Cardcaptor Thyme of The Second Book
by Asclei
Summary: The next generation of Cardcaptor introducing a young adult male as the main character. Set around 20 years after the end of the original canon, Mistress Sakura rules over formerly Clow Magic and found the existence of mysterious book in faraway land. The book is believed to be the first prototype of The Clow which is still flawed. Next WIP Chapter 10 -Final Judgment Part 2-
1. Prologue

The ancient time of sorcery and witchcraft produced numerous talented wizards developing their own style of magic. One such genius, named Clow Reed, had revealed his prowess by passing down his legacy unto a young girl named Kinomoto Sakura. The tale of her adventures collecting magical cards, known as Clow Card, converting them into a new card type has been heard throughout magical society. Accompanied by two guardians of sun and moon, she set herself into a historical trail of magic.

The Clow Book, which is the completed version of compiled Clow Cards, is the result of various trial and error experiments. Little did people know, that there were attempts to copy and different versions of Clow Books. Though the original cards have been transformed, this does not mean there were no more Clow Cards.

This story is a new adventure of a young man going through the dark and bitter world to gather Clow Cards in order to avoid calamity upon his world, or so he thought. He had heard the tales of the heroine Sakura and her heroic deeds, however for some reason, he thought that his adventure would not be as joyful as her experience.

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**Author note:**

Pardon the coarse language and swearing in the story. It was done intentionally to give realistic dialogue, in depth character expressions. This is for teenagers anyway.  
Enjoy the fast paced story and different view to the world of CCS.

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**List of canon characters appearing so far:**

- Sorceress Sakura Li (formerly Cardcaptor Sakura Kinomoto)

- Clan Master Shaoran Li

- Sorcerer Clow Reed

- Cerberus, Sealing Guardian Beast of Sun

- Yue, Sealing Guardian of Moon

- Kaho Kinomoto (formerly Kaho Mizuki)

- Ruby Moon, Sealing Guardian of Moon

- Grandmaster Eriol Hiiragizawa

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**List of original primary characters biography:**

- Cardcaptor Thyme Macquarie, a young adult male who received the task of collecting Clow Cards from someone in the past.

- Helios, Sealing Guardian of Ubiquitous

- Clan Initiate Miaozi Li, twin sister of Yuanzi

- Clan Initiate Yuanzi Li, twin sister of Miaozi

- Clan Enforcer Shenlong Li, Meiling Li's apprentice


	2. Chapter 1: The Scattered Clow Cards

It was a chilling night, the city was painted with glow of lights and stars. A young man with straight black hair, wearing a long coat, striding through the narrow streets outside the city. He kept looking to his rear, as if looking for something around there.

After a long walk through the park, he sighed,"Why do I have to do this?"

He remembered the time when he met Helios, the proclaimed Guardian Beast, who ordered him to collect something called Clow Cards. The Clow Cards had been scattered around due to an incident which he himself had no idea what was going on. Strange phenomena had been happening ever since that incident. Feeling responsible, he set to redeem himself by recollecting the so called magical cards. He thought,"If a young girl can collect them, I don't see any reason why it should be difficult for me."

As he continued his search, he stumbled upon a rabbit-like animal.

"Strange, I've never seen a pink rabbit. It has a peculiar anatomy as well, hmm? Helios said Clow Cards could be in any form, is this one of them?" pondered him.

However, as he approached the creature from behind, it turned around, glanced at him, then suddenly disappeared.

"The hell…" responded him. He took out his phone and made a call. "Helios, I found a pink rabbit that can poof out of nowhere."

"AAAAAAaaa! That's the Jump Card!" yelled the high pitched voice coming from the phone.

He quickly lowered the volume to minimum after distancing his ear from the annoying voice. "So what can I do to get him?"

"Just do as we did yesterday, okay? I'm pretty sure you remember the chants."

"I know that! What I meant was there any tips or strategies to catch him?!" he replied while getting ready to hang up the call.

"What's tip? Is that food?" asked Helios before his call was cut off while hearing a groan on the other side.

"Pssh..ordering people around, but doesn't even know what to do." sighed him,"I guess it's up to me now. Let's see if I still remember the procedures."

He grabbed an orb shaped brooch decorated with white wings from his left chest, lifted it in front of his body. He looked around to make sure nobody was around before he closed his eyes and concentrated. Magic circle started to form below his feet.

"Key of Eternal Seal, guardian of light and darkness, reveal your true form. Lend me your strength! RELEASE!"

The brooch was engulfed with blinding light before it was transformed into a dark blue scepter, only enough to be held by one hand. On the tip, there was a glowing blue orb, encased with the scepter's frame, decorated with twin wings ornament.

He extended his hand to reach the scepter, then the light vanished along with the magic circle. He thought,"I still can't believe this kind of thing actually exists!"

He seeked out the pink creature once again, and found it on top of a tree branch deep inside the park's foliage. He smirked, then approached it from behind again. He pointed the scepter at the creature while his left hand grabbed his pocket. As the first sneak attempt failed, so did this one. The creature noticed his presence, then jumped away.

"Ugh!" he growled, then gave it a chase. His left hand took out a card, then lifted it in front his face. "The Flower..huh? What am I gonna do with you?". He tried to keep his distance not too far away from the creature, but he couldn't keep up with its speed. There was nothing else he could think of except using his one and only Clow Card.

"Flower, disperse and surround them with your petals!" he chanted while throwing the card in the air. "The Flower!" he yelled after he slashed it with his scepter.

As he chased, blooming flower petals were raining in the area. There were too many of them that they covered the rabbit's vision, limiting his jumping radius. He closed the gap, then swung his scepter to command the petals to bind the creature. "Race is over, you're mine!"

"Return to your true form, Clow Card!" he chanted while pointing the scepter toward the creature. As the magic circle appeared again, both the petals and the creature were absorbed into the scepter's orb. After a period, two cards appeared in front of the orb. He grabbed it, then slumped down upon a nearby tree while panting. He looked over the two cards in his hand then smiled.

"Heh..heh..finally got you, bugger. Whew, I don't think this Cardcaptor job is right for me. Come to think of it, how did my seniors cope with this sort of stuff?"


	3. Chapter 2: Enter Cardcaptor Thyme

"Return to your true form, Clow Card!" yelled the young man, pointing his dark blue scepter toward a man holding a sword. The sword dispersed into thin air then got absorbed into the scepter's orb before it returned into its card form.

"Nicee Thymee! You nailed it! I thought we were gonna die for a second there." said a floating creature shaped like a plush doll.

The guy holding the card labelled 'The Sword', Thyme replied,"Seriously, this Cardcaptor stuff is a life or death job. I don't understand how an elementary school girl you mentioned could pull this off when we were almost stabbed to death."

"Like I told you, she is a descendant of Clow Reed, while you, just a commoner with coincidental magic synchronisation. The accident the other day was the proof of that." replied Helios,"The difference is that Clow Reed never had any plans to hand over his magic to you. But on the other hand, there is no one else better for the job."

"This should be worth my time and effort, Helios. I'm skipping classes and work because of this, you know…"

"Don't worry, when you possess the complete magic of Clow Reed, there is nothing you cannot do. The only limit is your own power." replied Helios as he flew back inside Thyme's jacket's pocket.

"Still..I'm impressed that you could defeat a strong card like The Sword with just Jump and Flower cards. You basically outmanoeuvred him with constant jumping and blinding him with flower petals." continued Helios.

Thyme Macquarie, was but a regular university student, working part-time at a graphic studio. His life was pretty mundane before his fateful encounter with Helios, the Guardian Beast who appeared from the Clow Book. Unlike his thought impression that the Clow Book was supposed to be red, with a golden lion on the cover, Thyme's book where Helios came from, was a dark blue book, and Helios was supposed to be from a picture of a wyvern on the cover.

Thyme's daily life involved his study and work, with hunting cards at night. He did not get plenty of rests, thus he recuperated during his spare time. With such limited time frame, Thyme could only reach so far and slow. However, Clow Cards also appeared during his day activities such as the Power, who wreaked havoc in the campus park. Fortunately, Thyme managed to seal it using his combined magic and intelligence.

One day, he heard news that one of his classmate was beaten to almost a pulp by a person weaker than him in physical strength. The bully was beaten by the bullied, which looked strange to Thyme and Helios.

"Hmm the weak becomes strong..was this the Clow Cards?" asked Thyme in his bedroom sitting on top of a swivel chair.

"That's strange, empowering things should the Power's effect. But we got her already, so it must be another card with the similar effect." replied Helios floating above Thyme's bed.

"In that case, it might be worth testing the Power against this fellow. I happened to be acquainted with the guy's friend, I will challenge him to a duel then you can give me some tips."

"Tips? Cookie?" replied Helios followed by Thyme's sigh.

So the challenge was issued, it was a blackmail from Thyme to expose the boy's crime, and as expected, the possessed boy came to answer it. Thyme stood on the campus' empty gym's wooden floor. The frail boy came nervously, walking in and glancing with the top corner of his eyes in fear.

"Enough with the pretense, I've identified you, Clow Card." said Thyme as his right hand reached his brooch and his left hand reached his back pocket.

Surprised by Thyme's declaration, the boy suddenly showed his possessed form, with faint aura glowing from his body, getting into a fighting stance.

"That's the Fight card yaaa! Same as Power, you can only weaken her by defeating her in combat." said Helios through a headset communicator attached to Thyme's left ear connected to his phone inside the pocket.

"All right then..game on! RELEASE!"

Thyme's left hand threw a card in front of him. As the card float, magic circle appeared below him. He spun his scepter with his right hand and pointed the orb at the card while yelling,"Sword!"

His scepter transformed into a one-handed sword with wing decorated handguard. "Haaah!" Thyme lunged forward but it was dodged easily by the master of martial art, the Fight.

Thyme launched flurry of slashes but they were all dodged. Frustrated, Thyme went for a front kick after the boy dodged. The boy dodged it again by jumping high backward.

"Tch!" Thyme's left hand grabbed his back pocket again, then brought out another card, he threw it in front of him. "JUMP!" he yelled as the sword slashes through the card.

Thyme leaped high to reach the boy in the air. Before he could swing his sword, the boy had already disappeared. "What?!"

"Behind you, Thymeeee!" yelled Helios over the earpiece.

"Sh-!"

Thyme could feel the boy's small knee smashed his back, tiny but was enough to make Thyme screamed in pain.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaah!" another scream as the boy continued serial attacks against Thyme in mid-air. The last kick sent Thyme to the ground after a loud cracking noise.

"Thyme, are you alright? Sorry, I can't do much in this form."

"Shit! That hurts!" growled Thyme as he recovered his stance, looked upward to see the boy is initiating a diving strike directly toward him.

Thyme reacted quickly with his left hand reaching his back pocket, took out another card. He intended to use Power card but drew Flower instead. A moment he realised the boy was getting closer, Thyme leaped as far as Jump's ability could to avoid the splashing impact. The diving fist cracked the wooden floor, before it completely destroyed the surroundings.

Thyme was still thrown around by the shockwave, but he regained his stance and quickly leaped forward again despite his injuries. He had to throw the Flower card on the ground to get the Power card he wanted. Blood dripped from his arm to the card.

"Cards made by Clow, grant me the superior strength to defeat my opponents! Power!"

Unfortunately, he didn't have any strength to continue. His eyes were heavy as he fell down to the ground, dropping both the scepter and the card. As the Fight was going to finish him off, Helios jumped in and erected a repulsive barrier. The boy was blown aback hitting against the wall, then Helios pushed him using a magical aura that separated the Fight and the boy. A silhouette of a woman in fancy outfit came out of the boy's body, floating in the air before she ran away. Helios exhaled deeply then turned into the bruised and bleeding master lying unconscious below.

"I guess it's too much to ask for someone with no innate magical abilities." exhaled Helios,"The least I can do is return your former life back."

Helios picked the scattered cards, then used his entire strength to pull Thyme out of the building before a security guard on patrol discovered him.

Thyme opened his eyes, it was already morning. He got up and brushed his eyes with his fingers. He realised that he was back inside his room, someone must have taken him back and tended to his injuries. He saw Helios was sitting on top of his desk facing the other way, looking at the brooch key.

"Helios, sorry I failed." said Thyme in a gentle tone.

Helios realised that Thyme had woken up, turned around and looked at him with pitiful eyes.

"No it's my fault. I shouldn't have used you in the first place."

"What?! You think I will give up after these scratch marks? Next time I'll beat that card. If only I had drawn the right card at the right time…"

"Are you serious? You're injured and almost died! I can't possibly answer to my former master if I let you die."

"Putting that aside, my life is not comparable to the world's."

"Are you talking about the catastrophe? Yes I'm aware but…" Helios paused for a moment. He had realised that Thyme suddenly developed magical talents out of nothingness. According to his knowledge, magical abilities are inherited or bestowed upon someone, but Thyme, who had no magical talent, even became able to wield the key, which surprised him as well. He wondered if this was a side effect of Clow magic.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in shape soon. Then we can chase them again..got it, Helios?"

Helios nodded in agreement as his eyes got teary. "Thank you.."


	4. Chapter 3: Thyme's Hunting Season

It was a moonlit night, the duo Thyme and Helios were engaging a card incarnation inside a construction site. Both were running on the sandy grounds toward the foundation.

"It's going up, Thymee!" yelled Helios as he flew up following the shadow.

Thyme took out his brooch then lifted it in front,"Guardian of Light and Dark, grant me the power to this sealing key. I, Thyme, under our pact command thee, RELEASE!"

Thyme quickly took his scepter that had transformed from the brooch, then continued to run while his left hand reached a small box attached to his belt in the back. He flipped the box's lid, took something with his two fingers. It was a Clow Card that Thyme threw it in front of him as he directed his scepter toward it. "JUMP!"

Thyme jumped from one pillar to another to reach higher places with a very fast speed almost looked like he bent the gravity. As he reached the top where Helios was, the card finally showed its true form. It was a tall figure wearing a white cloak. They could not see what was inside due to the dark shadow.

"The Shadow.." said Helios.

"Weaknesses?"

"Exposure to light.."

"Hmm, what to do?" thought Thyme as he looked around,"Ah!" Thyme glanced at the moon.

Thyme's left hand reached his card holster in the back, took another card then quickly summoned it,"GLOW!"

Floating particles surrounded the area, as the Shadow shrunk slowly. Thyme summoned another card,"Sword!".

"Thyme, sword attacks won't work against him!" warned Helios.

"I know" replied Thyme as he reflected any light that came through the sword and directed it at the Shadow figure. "Now's the time"

Thyme casted another card, The Rain to summon light drizzle right below the moon showering the battlefield lightly. As the moonlight and Glow Card lights refracted against each other and with the water particles created sparkling effect. He could see the Shadow seemed writhing in pain. With no time wasted, Thyme immediately sealed the card.

"Easy peasy, Thyme! You are so much better than before!" cheered Helios. He realised that Thyme's magical affinity had grown stronger than ever, the Clow attachment to him was significant. He also had better physical reflexes and quick decision making for tactical advantage. His image of Thyme went further when Thyme decided to invent the card holster box which has inner partitionings to sort the cards by their utilities. This made Thyme able to draw any card he wanted without looking at it first, a lesson that he learnt the hard way before. It required a great memorisation of the card's order and sensing using only his left hand while he focused his attention toward his opponent.

"So, where's the other one?" asked Thyme.

"Huh?! Heh?" replied Helios in confusion as he lost in thought. It took a moment until Helios realised they were chasing two cards back then, one ran this way and the one went to the other direction. "Ahhh..ahahaa sorry I got overexcited! I remember it went that way." he pointed to the graveyard across the street where the construction site was.

"Let's chase it before it went too far.." Thyme jumped away from the top of the construction site, summoned the Flower to cushion his landing then ran as fast as he could.

Helios stared at Thyme for a moment, thinking,"You've grown so much in these four months, not only physically, but also mentally." then he flew down following Thyme.

Arrived at the graveyard, the two looked for the card's trace.

"The presence is diluted with other aura.." said Thyme.

"You can sense it too? It's the death aura..it's graveyard anyway. Other than that, you have developed magical awareness. I never thought it was possible with a commoner." replied Helios.

Helios theorised that due to extensive exposure to magic, Thyme's body adapted to it, hence building magical cells which were only available to sorcerer's offsprings.

"This hide-and-seek is gonna take forever. I have an idea." Thyme took several cards from holster and summoned them one by one. "SHADOW...GLOW...SILENT...JUMP!"

"Whoa whoa wait a minute there! You're trying to pull that stunt, and you will collapse after the cards resolved. Only Clow the creator is able for such feat." warned Helios but it was too late. Thyme's body possible couldn't handle the stress of extracting multiple magical energy at the same time due to his inexperience and capacity. As expected, Thyme suddenly knelt on the ground after Jump card resolved.

"Ngggh.."

Helios sighed. "You're so reckless..now how do you plan to capture it if you can't even walk?"

"Ughhh..It's like I'm being sleepy and tired, times hundred!" said Thyme as he wobbled around trying to stand properly while holding his head with his left palm,"But the show must go on.."

The Shadow spread throughout the graveyard easily due to dim environments, then suddenly they stopped hearing noises. Helios and Thyme looked around, but still couldn't find the culprit.

"So Thyme, what is the plan? If you can't move, I'll at least track it down for you." as Helios spoke his body started to glow very brightly. "Eee..eeeeh? What's happening? Is this...glow card?"

Thyme put his finger in front of his lips signaling Helios to be quiet, followed with a smirk. Helios realised what was Thyme's plan. The silence continued for some moment, until eventually one of them had to give up. Thyme saw something glowing on top of a tree to his right. He carefully walked slowly, inspecting the tree from afar. The glow shone brighter as the tree's noise got louder. A sudden force propelled Thyme's body upward toward the tree's location. With his last strength, Thyme pulled out another card and summoned it in mid air. "SWORD!"

Thyme's scepter transformed into a long sword that cut the tree in half. "Ahhhh..it's the Woody Card!" screamed Helios as he followed Thyme from behind. Thyme landed right in front of the tree barks that transformed into a beautiful woman figure.

"All righty Thyme! Now seal it quick!"

"Urrrgh..Return to your original form..Clow Ca…ughh.." Thyme collapsed right before he could raise his hand wielding scepter. Helios supported him with his tiny body, eventually collapsed along with him.

"No you can't Thyme..wake up..oomph.." said Helios in desperation after Thyme's unconscious body fell on him.

The Woody woman approached them, squatted down and gently said,"It's all right.. He has proven himself to be a worthy master." she smiled. Helios looked at her dumbfounded. "I wasn't sure that a commoner like him would make a good master. But now, I think surpassing master Clow is just a matter of time." continued her as she transformed herself into a Clow Card with a label 'The Woody'.

"The cards...they're acknowledging him." mumbled Helios,"But still, I don't know if he can make it to The Final Judgment [Saigo no Shinpan]."

"The calamity is not worth his death. As a commoner with no innate magical ability, he will probably struggle thousand fold than that Cerberus' master." Helios sighed,"Why did I pick him in the first place? A Clow Reed descendant would be perfect, but still..this man, has something that sorcerer lacks the most, a mindset that no magicians could ever have."

It was very dark, Thyme found his body floated in an empty space. There was a tall figure, groomed long haired man, wearing a strange garb and a monocle. Thyme tried to swing his limbs to move closer taking a better look.

"Who…" whispered Thyme.

The man smiled earnestly, before the darkness shroud covered everything pitch black. Then another figure appeared in the silhouette. This time, there were three figures. The left figure, was a four legged giant beast, with giant feathered wings. Its eyes were glowing bright red. The right figure, was a tall human shadow, long but a bit messy hair, with similar feathered wings. The figure in between, though, did not have feathered wings. Instead, it looked like a woman, wearing a robe, garb and dress underneath. Her shoulder length hair was fluttering even though there was no wind. In her hands, was a long staff with a star shaped core above a sun and a moon, with wings on each side. Again, as Thyme tried to reach them closer, the darkness came back.

This time, Thyme could see himself, surrounded by floating Clow Cards. In his hand was his trusty scepter key. It looked as if he was in the middle of a combat, and in front of him, another man with strange robe, holding a broadsword in his right hand, and a chakram bell in his left hand. The darkness started to fade, revealing the surroundings. Thyme was standing on top of a tall building, and the other side of the building was where his opponent was. To his side, he could find Helios flying, with a stern look.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaah!" Thyme yelled while covered in sweat.

"Wawawawawa….!" Helios jumped out of startle. He found Thyme had woken up and suddenly changed his expression.

"My buddy, Thyme! Welcome back to the world!" cheered Helios.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Six days."

"Ugh..I still feel tired.." Thyme brushed his eyes.

"Seriously, that stunt was uncalled for. What were you even thinking? Sure, you are smart but your methods are reckless. Your safety should be the first priority above anything else." lectured Helios,"Even Woody had to carry you back to your room. Good thing nobody saw us that night."

"Can we skip this for later? I just had a weird dream..hmm"

"What weird dream?! Stop making excuses and listen to what I say!" Helios intended to continue his rant but held onto that thought when he saw Thyme's serious expression.

"Fine fine..tell me what did you dream then?"

Thyme told Helios everything in detail, but Helios had no idea what to make of it because he had not seen it firsthand.

"Could it be, that one of them is the legendary sorceress Sakura?" asked Thyme.

"According to your description, a big star with sun and moon. Yeah could be, star magic is her specialty after all. But for the rest, I can't think of anyone yet." answered Helios.

"Mistress Sakura, eh? Her tale sounds ridiculous in the first place, but everything went as Clow Reed had planned before his death. As for us, Clow Reed never had anything for us, we have to solve this ourselves. Well, nothing comes out of sitting still here. I need to recover quickly to get back on hunting." contemplated Thyme.

"Thyme..are you still worried about the catastrophe?"

"Hell I do..sure I don't have much friends, but I still care for this world as it is." Thyme got up and went outside his room to grab some food.

"That's not the case, Thyme. The catastrophe, is nowhere near what you imagined. Even now, I don't know if the calamity might be worse than that." said Helios which was ignored as Thyme was already outside the room.

Three weeks passed, Thyme had recuperated, and back in action. Each night they hunted the card, one by one until they gathered more than half of the original deck stack. As Thyme's ability progressed, so did his battle tactics. The time came when he had to face the card that left the most impression on him, The Fight. Ironically, Thyme and Helios had cornered her back in the gym hall where Thyme was beaten to a pulp, except it was repaired.

"Ah.." Thyme stopped before going inside in hesitation.

"Don't worry. The current you are more powerful than before. Both your magical abilities, physical abilities, and combat strategies have improved greatly. Your chances are much higher than before." cheered Helios.

"Right!" said Thyme in resolve. His eyes were focused and sharp. He went inside without any hesitation.

"I'll stand by outside to prevent her from escaping again." said Helios as he flew above the building. Thyme nodded.

"Sweet revenge, baby! Bring it on!" said Thyme as he held his brooch in his right hand facing the Fight.

Without any warning, the Fight charged toward Thyme at full speed as if she was desperate. She must have sensed changes in the old naive boy that she had beaten before had changed into a powerful adversary.

"Game on! RELEASE!" Thyme quickly grabbed his newly formed scepter with his right hand and his left hand grabbed two cards from holster. He instantly threw them in front and had his scepter activate them.

"VOICE..MOVE.. Let's do this!"

Both cards transformed into thin aura that enveloped Thyme's card holster.

"Jump!" said Thyme without holding any card in his hands. The Jump card, responded due to the Voice card, then flew out of the holster and floated in front of Thyme due to the Move card. Thyme only had to touch it with his scepter to activate it.

He successfully evaded her charge, however this put him vulnerable in mid air. The Fight took her chance by leaping high to strike Thyme in mid air as he couldn't have dodged it.

"Not happening twice! Shield!" he said as the Shield card came out of his pocket to the rescue, successfully blocking her strong jump kick.

"My turn...Sword!" he yelled. As the Voice Move combo enabled him to use Clow Cards without occupying his left hand with cards, Thyme could use both hands to hold the scepter/sword.

A swift uppercut slash was swung as Thyme landed before the Fight did. She blocked it using both arms, but the impact blew her back in the air before she landed on a higher platform. "Dash!" The Dash card responded and floated around Thyme where he slashed the card to summon it. The combination of Jump and Dash leap brought Thyme back to melee range. A strong swing using the momentum and wind force was still blocked by the Fight. To his surprise, Thyme thought he had enough strength to overpower her. "Mmmph.." Thyme leaped back to rethink his strategy.

"Help me..Power!" he added The Power card into his sword strength before rushing in again. "Hyaaaaaaah!"

The Fight realised the amount of power in each sword swing, thus evaded it. A massive force from the missed sword strike torn the wooden floor. As she realised that she couldn't engage him in close range combat, she maintained a safe distance to wait for the right opportunity while Thyme went on rampage exhausting both his body and power.

"You're not running away this time! Arrow! Shot! Burst her down!" He called in The Arrow and The Shot in order, with both continuously aiming at The Fight.

However with quick reflexes that The Fight had, she either evaded or deflected most of the shots fired at her. After getting her busy with the Arrow and Shot, Thyme took his chance by leaping high toward the her to land a powerful blow.

Thyme had her cornered against the wall thus his strike will either connect, or she will be shot down by Arrow and Shot if she evaded Thyme's sword. The Fight however, known for her martial arts skill, stopped Thyme's hand then landed a double kick to his stomach before he could even respond. "Urrk!"

"Fucking kung fu..I'll bash you down!" raged Thyme,"Mist, create a corrosive shield around my body."

The Fight tried to get a better positioning by wall jumping from the corner to a spot where The Arrow and Shot couldn't reach. "Like I'll let you! Woody, bind her!"

Thyme slumped down after summoning The Woody. Panting, he knelt on the ground using the sword as a support. It appeared that he exhausted himself by continually draining his energy using dozens of cards.

"Not yet..I'll get you for sure, this time..heh" he exhaled and tried to stand back up.

"Sha...dow… Bind her on the ground." he said as he summoned Shadow. Woody successfully bound The Fight in mid air, while The Shadow bound her from the ground.

"Arrow, Shot, finish her!" he ordered as both were aiming at the immobilised target.

Thyme had gotten back up, returned his scepter form and summoning magic circle below his feet.

"Return to your original….fo..rm.." Thyme was still weakened, but he braced himself and gave everything he had,"Clow CARD!"

The Fight was absorbed into a card, followed by the other cards returning to their forms. "Move, put this card inside my holster." he ordered before falling to the ground.

Meanwhile, Helios sensed that The Fight's presence had disappeared. "Did he succeed?" he said as he flew inside the building. Helios saw Thyme laying on the ground, surrounded by broken wooden floor and walls and windows.

"What a reckless man! I knew it was going to be like this. Hmm what's this? The Silent? That's why I didn't hear anything from outside..hmm and The Return?" said Helios as he picked both cards from Thyme's hand, looked around as the broken building was returned to the way it was.

"At this rate, it won't be long before you collect all the cards, and I will return to my true form. Then, final judgment.." he continued while staring at Thyme's sleeping face.


	5. Chapter 4: Envoys of Li Clan

After series of restless actions, Thyme reached his limit as the fatigue took its toll on his body. He decided to take a break to recuperate and plan his next move with Helios. He opened the dark blue book, almost filled with Clow Cards that he had gathered so far. Helios casted a spell that made the cards float around Thyme as magic circle appeared below him.

Thyme looked around the cards orbiting and reminiscing his battle with each one of them. He remembered that Helios said when certain card types are captured, he will return to his true form. Most likely, the required cards were still out there because after so many cards, Helios still maintained his tiny body.

"Humm..what a misfortune!" said Helios breaking the silence.

"What's wrong?"

"Of all the cards we've gathered, there is not even one major card or greater elemental cards."

"What's that? Are you talking about special cards? We have The Maze and The Mirror..then.."

"No that's not it.. We haven't encountered any of the four elemental cards, or even greater elementals." interrupted Helios.

"Huh? What's that?" replied Thyme after he dispelled the magic circle and collected the cards into his hand stack.

"Listen. The four elemental cards, represents the earth, fire, water and wind. They are the higher tier cards, means that they govern most of your cards' power. Most of your offensive cards will be ineffective against them. Like Woody for example, you can't use her to fight Earthy because Woody's power is based on Earthy's property. I think you get what I mean.."

"That means...most of my cards power are sealed..Then I suppose you have other methods?"

"Elemental cards can only be beaten with another elemental card, or more."

Thyme looked at his stacked deck,"We'll think of something..well, it's no use muttering about it. I am in no condition to fight anyway now."

"You're right, you've done plenty. Good job, Thyme. Have a good rest." said Helios as he flew to Thyme's closet to sleep.

Weeks after, Thyme had no activities involving Clow Cards due to his study and work schedule getting intense. He sensed no presence of Clow Cards, neither did Helios. Until one day, Thyme encountered people who will cause some trouble to his secret activity.

"Exchange students?" said Thyme as he walked with his classmate along the university corridor.

"Yeah, they came from Hong Kong apparently."

"They? More than one? Then surely….Ugh!" Thyme bumped into someone before he could finish his sentence. His friend looked at him in surprise.

"Ahh! What a jerk! You intentionally bumped into me so you could touch my body, this low life!" grumbled a young woman with a long black hair, tied with a hair ribbon and pair of hair sticks.

"Damn..ah I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking." apologised Thyme before his hand got slapped by her.

"Shut up! This is why I don't like this country." grumbled her again as she stared into Thyme intently.

"What the hell? If you were looking forward too, this wouldn't have happened!" said Thyme as he got angry by her response.

"Now now…" said the friend in low tone trying to calm both.

"What?! You touched me then you blamed me? How does your brain work?!"

Their loud voices attracted other students to gather around. "Far out! I think words can't get to your head either. Wanna settle this right here right now?!" challenged Thyme. Thyme had always been a person who showed no mercy, no discrimination, and no remorse. Perhaps this attitude was one of the contributing mental factors to his success as a cardcaptor.

"Hold on, Yuanzi!" yelled another woman with a very similar sounding voice. Another young woman appeared from the crowd that gathered there, she looked exactly like the girl in front of Thyme.

Everyone's eyes were focused back and forth between the two girls.

"Jie, don't stop me! This molester has to be taught a lesson!" replied the girl called Yuanzi.

"No don't! Take a good look at his chest pocket!" as she held Yuanzi's hands.

"Uh! I sensed it! There's faint magical aura coming from that brooch of his." said Yuanzi after she calmed down in a very low voice.

"I have a feeling that he is the one.." replied her.

"Are you sure, Miaozi Jie?" asked Yuanzi to the girl called Miaozi. Miaozi nodded reluctantly.

Yuanzi walked closer toward Thyme, leaning her face in front of his chest. "W-What do you want?!" said Thyme in panic as he stepped backward.

"Let me see that brooch!" ordered Yuanzi.

Thyme stopped for a moment there, as he thought,"What?! Why is she suddenly interested in this? Coincidental?"

"No!" denied Thyme strongly.

Yuanzi insisted on taking the brooch until her sister, Miaozi stopped her due to the attention they got from the crowd. In the end, the girls left as soon as Thyme walked away from the scene.

"Whew what girls! There you go, they are the exchange students. They're very hot!" said Thyme's friend while panting chasing him.

"You're kidding me! Hmm..come to think of it.. There is a theory that says you could get better at something by trading something else. Ha! I got it, I believe they traded their attitudes for their beauty..makes sense." said Thyme in frustration.

"Aww come on, you could've just let that slide.."

Apart from the accident, Thyme was more interested in how the girl suddenly changed the topic to his brooch. Thyme held his brooch tightly while thinking,"It can't be..that..huh? No there's no way they noticed, it's pure coincidence." After the class sessions, Thyme got the last names of those sisters. He decided to consult with Helios just in case.

"Li family, you say?! Ugh.." said Helios.

"From your tone, it appears that you know them.." said Thyme curiously.

"Ahaha.." sighed Helios,"Every time there's an incident involving Clow, those guys were quick to react."

"Did it happen before as well?"

"Yes, I heard from Cerberus that Mistress Sakura encountered someone from Li clan as well during her cardcaptor days."

"Tch..so they noticed it." said Thyme as he held unto his brooch.

Helios explained that they were descendants of Clow Reed, whose tasks are to protect Clow magic from being misused and conceal its presence among the public. The fact that they were here proved that they were aiming at Thyme's cards.

"So..as long as you keep your heads up, there's no way for them to disrupt your movements. Get the lower tier cards first, wait until the situation is clear, then we can move on." suggested Helios.

"Sounds like a plan, let's do it that way." concurred Thyme.

Days after, Thyme found himself in a trip with his class to a beach resort in order to celebrate the start of new semester. Thyme brought Helios with him just in case something happened between him and the Li sisters.

It wasn't long after the first day that another Clow Card appeared. It was already midnight where most of the students were already asleep. Thyme was laying on top of his bed, with eyes half closed. Then a strange feeling came to his mind.

"Damn..this presence..Clow Card!" he thought. At the same time, Helios snuck out of the blanket and whispered,"Clow Card, Thyme! Let's move out!"

Thyme brought his card holster, handed out earpieces to Helios and wore one himself. As expected of Thyme's improvement, he modified the earpiece, enclosed it in a case to make it waterproof. There were wings decoration at the back side of the earpiece, but those were protecting the antennas from water or external impact. The two headed out to where the presence is the most intense, which was the open sea.

"This presence is very intense, careful this could be a high tier card." warned Helios.

As if the card also detected Thyme's presence, the water started to build up a huge wave heading to the coast.

"Waves do not get that big at midnight..what was that? Water card? Wind card?" asked Thyme.

"I can't see the true form yet. Fight it for now!" replied Helios.

Thyme ran away as fast as he could to avoid the wave. "Damn, another one coming in!" he said.

"Key that holds the power of the Darkness. Reveal your true form! I, Thyme, under our pact command thee, RELEASE!"

With his swift hands, he grabbed the scepter and immediately threw two cards,"VOICE, MOVE, let's do this!"

Thyme casted Jump to gain some distance from the second wave, then called,"WAVE! Suppress it with your power!". The Wave card jumped out of Thyme's holster and floated in front of him to be summoned with his scepter. The two waves collided, but Thyme's wave was absorbed quickly.

"I get it! The proof that your Wave card does not work on it means that is The Watery card." said Helios through the earpiece as he flew higher to observe the situation from above.

"Water, huh? Fine, how about this...MAZE, raise a sand wall to block the wave!"

The Maze card ejected out of the holster to be summoned. Tall and layered sand walls were erected to block the wave's impact. As Thyme thought his plans were working, the wave destroyed all the walls and gaining more momentum due to gravity.

"Shit! Maze, pull out! SHIELD, I need your help!"

The Shield protected Thyme from physical harm, however the wave still shook the ground he was standing upon, which made him fall. "Thymeee, heads up! There's another giant one!" yelled Helios through the earpiece.

"KKhh..its power seems infinite! It just keeps throwing one after another without any difficulties!" complained Thyme through the earpiece as he regained his stance.

"Well the fact that it's a high tier card, and its an offensive based one. Moreover, The Watery is the strongest near water bodies. The sea is just the best terrain to provide the infinite water bodies." explained Helios.

"Shield won't work, now what? Think..think.. I have so many cards yet I can't use them to save myself.." thought Thyme while reciting each card's name in mind to concentrate.

"Anyway, I can't take the wave head on again. TIME! Slow down the wave.."

"What are you thinking? Time consumes a lot of energy, surely you have another plan in mind?" said Helios.

"FREEZE! go!" chanted Thyme.

"No no no! Freeze is a water based card, it'll just boost the wave power!" yelled Helios in panic.

"Crap! I forgot!" Thyme leaped away from the wave as fast as he could.

"I can't use any water or liquid based card, defensive cards are not effective either. Sword and physical attack won't work on it, I'm running out of options here!" he thought as sweat dripped down his cheek.

"It's too late! I can't run! SHIELD, protect me one more time!"

Just as the wave as about to struck him, bright light traveled from behind and hit the almost collapsing wave. The water started to glitter as the light went right through the wave. The wave started to weaken as Thyme could see electricity in the water surrounding his barrier.

A familiar voice was heard from the direction where the light came from. "I told you to let that guy be swallowed by the wave!" "But then the impact will hit the cottage as well." "I guess so.."

Thyme glanced back at the voice to see the Li sisters in the night silhouette. "So that is the true form of the brooch." said Yuanzi.

"You're the cardcaptor? Hmm my instinct was correct after all." continued Miaozi.

"You can't do anything against this one, so step away and let the experts handle this!" said Yuanzi while pointing a thin, one handed sword at Thyme.

"Let's go, Jie! Here comes another one, let's smash it together!" yelled Yuanzi as she raised her sword along with Miaozi. They took out a sheet of paper with written mantra on it, covered their swords with it, then the swords started to generate electricity.

"Shin Raitei Shourai! [Divine Thunder Ruler Summoning]"

The flick of lightning Thyme saw before, appeared again as now there were two of them struck the incoming wave, slowing its speed and finally making the water subsided.

"Huh? Wasn't it working before?" asked Yuanzi.

"Wait, this takes time.." said Miaozi.

Suddenly they could hear a woman's voice screaming from inside the water, almost sounded like she was in pain. A small water body rose, slowly forming a small woman figure.

"That's her true form, Thyme!" said Helios.

Thyme couldn't move his body, seeing his powerlessness against the Watery and the Li sister's capability. "One more time should do, Jie! Aim for that one." said Yuanzi.

"Why are you spacing out, Thyme?! If you don't act quickly, they will get the card."

Another barrage of lightning strike hit the small water body, which revealed the true form of The Watery card. A small woman with fin ears, lower body of a fish, wearing a crown with a blue gem in the middle. After realising the situation she was in, The Watery tried to get away from the lightning's reach.

"Ahh she'll get away, Jie!" said Yuanzi as both sisters prepared another bolt attack.

With no excessive water bodies, The Watery evaded both lightning bolts and was about to get away until another lightning bolt hit her right on target. The Li sisters glanced at where the third lightning bolt came from. There was Thyme, with his scepter aimed at the Watery, along with two cards spinning on each side, The Thunder and The Arrow.

"Return to your original form! Clow Card!" recited Thyme.

And so The Watery was sealed, but the card flew to the Li sisters instead of Thyme. "Ah!"

"The card will go to whoever returned the card to the true form." said Helios as he flew back down to Thyme's side.

"I'm not planning to give it to them." replied Thyme with a sharp gaze at the Li sisters.

"Wait a minute, Thyme! It's frustrating but, they were the one who did the most this time. Besides, it was their attacks that made it possible for you to seal the card. They are the owner of that card. Uh..hey!"

Thyme dashed toward the Li sisters before Helios could finish his advice. "Huh? What do you want now, perverted loser?" provoked Yuanzi.

"..."

"He looks mad.." said Miaozi.

"...SWORD!" Thyme raised his scepter to be transformed into a sword.

"Huh? What's this? You're planning to take this by force?" taunted Yuanzi by raising the card to Thyme's eyes.

"Don't be foolish. You can't defeat us. This card proves that. Back off now!" warned Miaozi.

"DASH!" Thyme rushed in toward Yuanzi who held the card. "Hyaah!" a quick sword swing was easily evaded by Yuanzi.

"Let me handle him, Jie! This pervert needs to be taught a lesson."

Yuanzi leaped backward to lure Thyme in. Using his active Jump card, Thyme leaped to close the distance but Yuanzi steadily created more gap between them.

"Shin Fuuka Shourai! [Divine Wind Ruler Summoning]" chanted Yuanzi as she used another enchanted paper to assist her movement.

"Like I'll let you! SHOT! Assist Arrow and burst her down!" and yet again Thyme summoned another card.

"He has collected a lot, hmm.. and that magic ability. He is a commoner." commented Miaozi from afar.

Yuanzi appeared not only versed in magic but also martial arts as she dodged almost every shot from Shot and Arrow and parried the rest with her sword.

"Don't mess with me! TIME, work with me again!" this time Thyme planned to close the gap by slowing the time around her as he leaped in to deliver a single decisive strike. However she didn't seem to be affected. "Tch..in that case, accelerate, TIME!" Thyme diverted Time to hasten his movement instead.

"Hoo..not bad. But engaging a close quarter combat with me..you can't beat me in a sword fight." taunted Yuanzi as she stopped moving.

"We'll see! Hyaah!" Thyme delivered his first stab but was parried.

Yuanzi parried almost every attack Thyme launched and dodged the rest. "Fuck off! FIGHT, assist me!" Thyme summoned The Fight to boost his fighting technique to match Yuanzi's martial arts skills.

"That's impressive..a pervert like you can summon so many cards one after another. I bet that must have worn you down by now." teased Yuanzi.

"Shut up!" Thyme yelled as he almost connected a downward slash, but was still parried by Yuanzi.

"Oh no..He's gone way beyond limit. I can't imagine how many days he will be bedridden after this.." mumbled Helios.

"WOODY, bind her!" ordered Thyme. Wood branches and thorns appeared from the hole between rocks and tried to grab Yuanzi's feet. Yuanzi leaped high to avoid the roots, but this was the moment Thyme was waiting for.

"FLOAT, hold her in mid air!" Thyme stepped backward, held his temple with his left hand, panting heavily. "Now's the time, go Woody!"

Yuanzi saw the tree branches and roots coming toward her. She readied her sword to cut them down. But Thyme had read the situation and acted in advance,"GLOW! Flash her as bright as you can!"

"Yaaaaaah!" A blinding light from Glow that worked like a flashbang blinded both Thyme and Yuanzi as well as the faraway spectators Miaozi and Helios.

After the light subsided, Thyme opened his eyes, found Yuanzi was snared by Woody. With a face full of sweat, he ran while panting to take the card from her pocket.

"Yuanzi!" yelled Miaozi as she dashed in to save her sister.

"Uh oh! Thyme, behind you!" screamed Helios as he flew to chase her.

Thyme looked at the direction Helios was screaming, Miaozi already ready for a jumping lunge strike. With his weakened body, Thyme could not react as fast. He reactivated Shield to repel Miaozi.

"Illusion! Shadow! Stall her!" yet he summoned another two cards in his fatigued state. Miaozi was surprised that Thyme could still summon cards, thus was taken aback. Thyme walked slowly as he wobbled to reach The Watery Card.

"You want this card that bad, huh? Then have it! WATERY!" said Yuanzi in desperation.

The Watery was summoned again, bringing huge torrent to drive Thyme away from her owner. "Damn!" Thyme was forced to jump away from her. Miaozi immediately seized the opportunity to cut the woods entangling Yuanzi.

"He's pretty good, you let your guard down, Yuanzi." said Miaozi.

"But look, he looked like a zombie now. We can knock him down easily." replied Yuanzi as she pointed her sword at Thyme who was kneeling and panting. Helios finally caught up to him.

"That's enough, Thyme. Your pride won't get us anywhere. Let's apologise and retreat for now." said Helios.

"Heh...heh...after all this time, if we don't get an elemental card, we will struggle in the future, then they, with that elemental card, will snatch every other remaining card. I have thought this carefully, if we missed this, then might as well consider the remaining cards theirs." replied Thyme as he stood back up.

"But..your safety is the top priority. As a cardcaptor, there's only so much you can do..especially against the envoys of Li clan. They are trained since childhood in magecraft and martial arts. There's no way a commoner like you who only has field experience and no formal training can beat them." persuaded Helios,"Not to mention, I guarantee you can only summon one more card at most!"

"Then so be it, I have a last resort plan in mind. It's all or nothing.."

Helios could only look at Thyme who was hurt and fatigued, yet couldn't stop him from going in.

"What a persistent guy. You should learn your place, commoner." said Miaozi.

"Jie, let's finish him together. I'm so tired of all this, get all his cards too." replied Yuanzi.

"Two against one, that's not fair!" yelled Helios.

"Quit it..everything is fair in war..heh..heh..I'll take on both of you!" Thyme braced himself for last fight.

"Sad..a pervert like you suddenly knocked my heart a little bit. Well, I'll let you know at the very least, what we will do to you after we beat you. Hmm..first off, I'll take all your cards, then I'll use magic to wipe your memory…" explained Yuanzi.

"Bring it!" interrupted Thyme as he raised his sword pointing at Yuanzi.

"Thyme, no! They are going in together!" said Helios as he stayed away from battlefield.

"Then I'll fight them as two as well! TWINS! We'll defeat them together!" Thyme summoned The Twins as the last card to defeat the Li sisters.

Thyme and Twins fought the Li sisters as hard as they could. Sword clashing sounds were heard throughout. However, there were clearly distinct gap between someone who only had field experiences and someone who both had field experience and formal training. There was also the factor that Thyme excessively used his cards that exhausted himself before the duel. As the last sword swung, the Li sisters flung both Thyme's and Twin's sword away as the sword returned to a scepter.

Thyme crawled to reach the scepter as the sisters watched him struggle. Miaozi felt that they had punished him enough and intended to offer him a hand to stand up. However as Thyme got a hold of his scepter again, he nervously pointed it toward them still.

"Don't you have enough yet?" said Yuanzi as her expression turned from cold into sympathy.

"Heh…" Thyme smirked. Miaozi sensed something dangerous and immediately backed away.

"Yuanzi, be careful!" warned Miaozi.

Yuanzi immediately used Watery to form water shield that covered both sisters. "Got you!" cried Thyme.

The Thunder card that was soaring the sky all this time, descended upon the water shield, electrocuting the people inside. "Yaaaah!"

As the water amplifies the electricity power, Yuanzi had to dispel the water as soon as she could. She accidentally threw the card out of reflex. Thyme had no energy left, fell unconscious without even reaching the card.

As Yuanzi and Miaozi recovered, they were surprised at the last attempt by Thyme. Yuanzi took the card back and they walked toward the unconscious Thyme. Helios immediately jumped in front of them.

"Aren't you satisfied? He didn't manage to get the card after all!" he yelled trying to defend Thyme.

"Who are you?" asked Miaozi.

"I am Helios. This man is under my protection, I will defend him even with my own life, as a guardian and as a friend."

"Helios..you're the Ubiquitous Guardian Beast of Clow?" asked Yuanzi.

"I've heard a lot about you from Cerberus and Spinel. So your kind won't get your full power until certain cards are captured..huh?" continued Miaozi.

"..."

"Among the other senior guardians, Cerberus the Sun Beast Seal Guardian and his alter, Spinel Sun, you are the youngest of them all. Only handful of people even inside the Li clan knew about you."

"As expected of Li clan, you know your stuff well. Which means you're also aware of the fact that this Clow Book is not what you're looking for?" said Helios.

"Hmm..yes. Our record doesn't say anything about your version of Clow Cards, the only information of your existence we got was from Lord Syaoran and Mistress Sakura." replied Miaozi.

"!" Helios was startled by the names mentioned by Miaozi. "Clow has never told anyone of this, he even hid the presence of this book from his own family. How did they..?"

"You're underestimating Lord Syaoran's skill. As the husband of the only successor of Clow, Mistress Sakura, such things were trivial to him."

"As far as Cerberus told me, the final version of Clow Book had already been transformed into Sakura Book by none other than the Mistress. The Li clan's agreement was to that book, not this one!"

"Yes, that is correct. Thus, that means your Clow Book is a fake, counterfeit, illegitimate. There can only be one Clow Book, no..Sakura Book."

"Fake, you say?! How dare you..then how do you explain my existence which was created by Clow Reed himself?" gnarled Helios.

"I do not know how you become to exist, either a copycat sorcerer's attempt or a discarded one. At least we all agree that the current Sakura Book is the real deal. There is no need for the second book." explained Miaozi coldly.

"You seek to destroy me and the book? Heh..too bad, under our pact, you can't have me or the cards be destroyed unless you kill the cardcaptor or under his permission." said Helios smugly.

"That's exactly where Li Yuanzi comes in!" interrupted Yuanzi after picking up the Watery card back.

"Hmph, need I remind you, if you dare to touch him I'll use everything I have to retaliate!" warned Helios.

"Please. We're not evil heartless and cold murderers. Oh we will get his permission, just you wait" replied Yuanzi.

Helios was left speechless with the Yuanzi's last remark. The sisters left them as they sensed someone was coming nearby.


	6. Chapter 5: Unlikely Partners

Thyme had missed lots of his work shifts due to continuous sick leaves, thus his boss ordered him to work more after he recovered to cover his negligence. After the last duel with the Li sisters, Thyme collapsed and didn't wake up after 10 days. As he woke up he felt dizzy and very tired, but he used the Time Card once to fast forward his body rejuvenating process. He intended to answer his boss' call to work afterwards.

"My god, Thymey..where have you been all this time? All the clients were looking for you specifically. They said they don't want their jobs to be done by someone else. I was really going to fake your work to get by the deadline!" said Teo, the lead Graphic Designer and owner of Illusion Illustrations, also Thyme's boss.

"Please don't do that boss, you'll ruin my reputation..that aside, I'm already tired of telling you not to call me 'Thymey'."

"Haha..you and the boss are always the humour we need in this studio!" said a colleague.

"But..still.. You're one of the ace illustrator here in Illusion Illustrations.. Don't neglect your job just because you're popular among clients now.. Not to mention, without you to answer the boss' joke it feels really dull here you know? Hahaha!" said another colleague.

"I wish boss would stop making fun of me.." sighed Thyme.

"Oh yeah..boss since you're here what's the progress of the new applicant? Will she be working here?" asked the colleague.

"Ahem..of all the girls that work here, does no one suit your refined taste? Young men, you need to appreciate women that are already exist in your life…." said Teo.

"Ahem..boss is still very young as well and single..still no woman in sight" interrupted Thyme mimicking Teo's speech before everyone bursted into laughter.

"Thymey, you will regret those words! For I have accepted that girl and now I will have you teach her things here."

"Nooooooo! What about my pile of jobs?"

"Have her help you. Two are better than one, right? Toodles, Thymey!" said the boss in rhyme before he dashed out to his office. Everyone bursted into laughter again. "Tomorrow, please don't come." complained Thyme.

As the next day started, Thyme started his work early in the morning. He left Helios in charge of detecting any Clow Card movement or Li sisters while he was away. He was getting ready to begin his work until Teo came in the employee's studio.

"Hey guys, I have a meeting with clients until afternoon. The new girl will come soon, someone greet her and….ten dollars bet Thymey will have crush on that girl, who's in?"

"Go away boss!" hushed Thyme as everyone was entertained first thing in the morning.

The artists got back to their work as soon as the boss left, until after a while someone rang the studio's bell. "Oh it's her!" said a colleague. People were rushing out of their desks trying to greet her, or at least take a peek of her. Thyme was pulled out of his desk by his team because he was the one assigned for responsibility.

"Ooh..she is a hottie!"

"Let me take a look! Oh wow, she looks like girls from our illustrations.."

"These lustful idiots.." Thyme sighed amongst the crowds,"Step aside folks! I need to do my job." as he forced his way to the front.

"Of all the idiocy, you just wooing every new girl, this is exactly…...GAAAAAH!" screamed Thyme in surprise.

"Aaaah!" screamed the girl in response.

"What's wrong?" asked a colleague.

"This girl..!" yelled Thyme.

There was no reason why Thyme wouldn't snap at the first glance, because the new working girl was none other than Li Yuanzi. In his mind there was only one sentence regarding her,"The rude and strong girl who took my Clow Card"

"Oh now you're chasing me up to here, huh? If you want a duel, you could've asked. I still have something to get from you, after all." said Thyme in a sinister manner.

The crowd frowned Thyme's action as the girl looked scared and nervous. Some of the words were heard such as "Bastard!" or "If you don't want her, I can teach her stuff.." or "Why are you so rude to this innocent girl?"

"Don't tell me that your sister will appear in my apartment next…"

Thyme's action again attracted hatred from his colleagues. Thyme took Yuanzi's hand and led her to an empty meeting room before he caused another uproar in the studio.

"You..you're not going to get anything by doing this..I won't let my guard down." said Thyme while pointing at her.

"Umm..sorry?"

"What? Did I mishear stuff?" Thyme cleared his ear with his finger.

"I mean..I'm sorry for the other night. I think I hurt you badly…but" said Yuanzi in a cute voice.

"Wait a minute!" halted Thyme as he saw the door was not closed properly and there were shadows upon the gap hole. He walked toward the door to slam it close before the people scattered away. He turned around while scratching his head.

"Hey..did you hit your head or something?" said Thyme in a mean tone.

She shook her head, then smiled and grabbed Thyme's hand. He quickly backed away,"What did you just do? Did you cast something on my hand?! Answer me!"

Yuanzi approached him again trying to grab his hand. "I casted a spell called 'forgive me'..did it work?"

Thyme was lost in thought, he didn't move for a moment. "T-This girl, last time tried to kill me, stole my card, now is standing so fragile in front of me. This is the right time if I want to claim what's mine, yes that's what I'm gonna do" thought Thyme,"But wait a minute, what if this is all a trap? Yes, an elaborate trap that I couldn't see yet. Yes that must be it. I need to tread with caution, worst come to worst I might lose more cards to her. I need to be vigilant, I need to be strong so that it won't happen like last time."

"Uhh..yeah it works I guess." replied Thyme.

Yuanzi's expression turned into the earnest smile he has ever seen. It was almost as if she showed him the hidden side of her. Suddenly Thyme's heart was beating faster and his body heat temperature started to raise.

"A-Anyway..you're here to work, right? Let's separate our private and professional matter.." he said as he looked away from her face. She replied with a smile.

Thyme took her to an empty desk in the corner far away from the rest of team because there were no desks left in the area. He gave her some documents to read on beforehand so that she understand the basic rules of the studio. However as he sat back on his chair, he saw his colleagues were approaching the lone corner desk.

"Hi new girl! I'm Jack, one of senior designer here. Nice to meet you."

She nodded bashfully and introduced herself.

"So I see that you're already acquainted with Thyme. If I don't interrupt your privacy, may I know what is your relationship with him?" asked him with confidence.

"Just directly ask her what does she mean by 'that night'!" yelled one colleague from behind.

Suddenly her face turned red and hid behind her long hair. Thyme was getting unsettled watching them but he didn't want to get involved either. He tried to ignore them by focusing on his work.

"I..umm..sorry it's kind of secret.." replied Yuanzi. The combinations of her gestures and words suggested something else to the other colleagues as all of them turned red, especially Thyme.

Thyme couldn't hold it anymore, he got up and walked toward the crowd surrounding Yuanzi's desk.

"Alright, this is a misleading conversation leading to a fatal misunderstanding.. You! Come with me!" said Thyme while grabbing Yuanzi's hand and went back to his desk. He also moved all her things to his desk, then made a small space on his work desk for her. His actions was not without the crowd cheering and whistling on him though.

"Thank you..umm T-Thyme.." she said embarrassedly.

"N-No problem..just doing my job..heh!" he replied awkwardly.

Thus they continued to work without talking to each other with Thyme warding off everyone who tried to get close to his desk. Luckily, Teo didn't come back in time to add another excitement in the studio for the day.

"The Li sister works in your office?!" yelled Helios after hearing Thyme's bad day rant.

Thyme jumped on his bed and stretched his body,"They infiltrated my university and my workplace. But yeah, it was strange how her attitude changes 180 degrees."

"Don't trust them, Thyme! Never! Believe me, they will betray you in the end. I, we know their objective.."

"I know..don't get me wrong, I haven't forgotten the Watery Card."

"Forget the Watery Card, did you not remember the last thing they said to us? Or were you unconscious at that time? They wanted to eliminate our Clow Cards, and me.."

Thyme's face turned sour as he heard it for the first time. "What?! Then, Watery Card…"

"No they can't do anything if it's not a complete deck with the book, however that's why they came inside your life. From what happened today, I can strongly suggest that the sister is approaching you to divide us, in other words, get your permission to cancel our pact."

"Hmm..I'll be careful, Helios." said Thyme in conviction,"Anyway, I'm so tired today, so might call it a day..good night!"

It was a dark space, filled with nothing but Thyme's body. "Huh?" he said while wondering what was going on. He recalled the same thing happened when he dreamed. "This dream..again.." he said. He was expecting the silhouettes to come but they never came. As the darkness lifted, there was the familiar scene where Thyme's standing in front of the man with the broadsword and chakram bell. This time, he could see clearer and he saw something that caught his attention, the robe the man was wearing. It had a certain symbol that Thyme had seen it somewhere, but he couldn't recall it. He looked to his sides but couldn't find Helios. "Huh that's strange, as far as I remember..Helios was.."

"So you realised…" said a woman in a soft voice.

"...who's there?!" said the alerted Thyme.

The woman showed herself, draped in a long dress with ornaments from her hair to her shoes. The pattern looked familiar as well. "Are you..Clow Card?" he asked.

"I am The Dream who controlled everything in this realm."

"I thought so..it was an illusion." said Thyme.

"You think so? As you are not capable of prophetic dream, only through me it is possible."

"I don't understand anything you said!"

"You will..in time. But that's not the reason of why I showed myself in front of you. I have never intended to show myself in front of someone who could seal me."

Thyme listened in without interrupting this time.

"I don't have anything else to show you..because you..changed the future. It wasn't supposed to be like this. The Clow plans were altered and you are the main reason. Regardless, I am no longer bound to Clow, and it appears that you will protect us cards when the day comes. As a token of my gratitude, I will join you and lend my power to your cause."

"Very well..I do not yet understand what's going on, but if you are going to help me in my quest, then welcome aboard. Key that holds the power of darkness. Reveal your true form. I, Thyme, under our pact command thee, RELEASE! Return to your original form, Clow Card."

Before The Dream was entirely absorbed into the card, she left her last remark,"If you wish to use my power, you might want to seek The Sleep's help. I will gladly help you envision your future, my master."

Thyme was more concerned in the missing Helios rather than the boy's identity. He woke up in the morning finding his hand holding a card labelled 'The Dream'. He was convinced that The Dream's prediction was true and told Helios everything that happened inside the dream. Helios looked sad after hearing the story.

"I see..so in the end, I will disappear. The future changes, before you said that I was in your dream..and now the dream after the Li sisters came, I am gone. The Dream shows you the future, then the conclusion is clear now." said Helios in depression.

"Hey now..don't get emo on me.. The future can be changed.."

"How will you change the future, even the Time Card cannot do that!" yelled him while crying.

"The Dream told me that.. Were you listening to my story? You were there but then you weren't.." Thyme paused for a moment.

"Draw the conclusion with your smart head then.." insulted Helios.

"But there's still a chance. If the future has changed, then we just have to revert it..or change it again so you are there."

"None of your saying make any sense! Just give me the The Hope from Sakura Book and I will be happy!" said Helios sarcastically.

"Calm down, this is a trick to throw us into panic. I will keep monitoring the future through The Dream, but I don't know how to combine it with the Sleep."

"Overlay the cards then summon them both at the same time, idiot!" said Helios with crying voice.

Thyme tried stacking the two cards, The Dream and The Sleep in front of him and pointed them with his scepter, but nothing happened. If all, only the front card responded to the scepter, which was The Dream. But The Dream couldn't work outside dream world, thus nothing resolved from the card. He wanted to ask Helios for advice afterwards, but backed off immediately after hearing Helios' cry.

"Ha! You can't do dual-cast? It is impossible with a commoner after all. Don't worry it's my fault, shouldn't have chosen you in the first place….Cerberus' master could even dual-cast two elemental cards at her first try! Oh help me, I'm doomed"

"Tch..come on. Thyme, think, think! I have an idea!" said Thyme.

Thyme used The Mirror to copy himself and Twins to copy the scepter's image, thus enabling each to summon The Sleep and The Dream. However The Mirror went to sleep as soon as the card resolves but nothing happened to Thyme. "Huh?"

"That's just the same thing as two person doing one card at the time!" yelled Helios.

"Damn it!"

Thus the peaceful days ended. The dark future loomed for both Thyme and Helios as well as the Clow Cards. In the next few days, Thyme tried to distance himself from Yuanzi at work to avoid the predetermined future. He thought,"If Helios said he will be gone because of the Li sisters, then I shall cut any interactions so that they can't interfere with our future.". Yuanzi, on the other hand, tried her best to approach Thyme but often turned down coldly.

"Catastrophe and now this..I can't prevent any of these. I need more power!" said Thyme.

"Heyy..Thyme! I've been looking for you! Why are you separating yourself from the other students? What if you get lost in the mountain?" greeted Yuanzi as she ran toward him.

It was an outing day where the students of university took a trip to the mountain. Some preferred hiking the mountain, enjoying scenery and picnic on the green area, or observing the animals there.

"Get away from me!" hushed Thyme.

"My, how rude, after all the time she searched for you." replied Miaozi who followed Yuanzi behind.

"Your scheme, I know your schemes all along. Don't play dumb with me, you're after my cards! Do you really think by turning your attitude, you will get something out of me?!"

"But I…"

"Stop it, Yuanzi. There's no point in arguing, after that incident." halted Miaozi.

Thyme ran away from the sisters to the top of mountain, as he thought there's no way girls could climb up that high. He reached the top, looked at the scenery in front of his eyes, then lots of thoughts suddenly came inside his head. The scenery was perfect for one to contemplate with mind issues. However, he had forgotten that the Li sisters were not ordinary girls.

"Ah-ha..there you are!" cheered Yuanzi from below.

"Geh!"

Yuanzi jumped quickly to Thyme's position. Thyme sighed and looked at her with pale eyes. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you sick?" said Yuanzi as she held Thyme's hand and leaned her face close to his forehead.

"W-whoa don't get close to me!" responded Thyme as he backed away, but didn't notice that he stepped on an uneven ground. He fell while Yuanzi's hand was still holding onto him, so they fell together with Yuanzi on top of him.

"Yaah! Are you okay?" she said while breathing close to his face.

"Ungggh.." growled Thyme as he was left speechless due to his suddenly raised body temperature and dilated pupils that couldn't find anywhere to look at.

The wind got stronger and there was a familiar feeling coming to them. "...This is.." "Clow Card!"

Thyme regained his self and pushed Yuanzi off his body to get up. "You won't get past me this time!" warned him.

Yuanzi stood up and took her sword that was put in a long telescope bag. Thyme immediately put his earpiece on and called Helios through the line, but the reception was too weak on top of a mountain that he couldn't get it through. "Damn it!"

"Looks like I have to make due with this.."

"Hey..you better be careful! This is a strong one." said Yuanzi with a tone similar to the first time they met.

Thyme paused for a moment, glanced at her, thinking,"She's back to normal! This is her self during that time..Hiding from me won't be that easy as I thought."

With only the two of them in the middle of the gust, both Thyme and Yuanzi had to stood back to back, like it or not. They tried to locate the Clow Card form where the presence is the most intense, but the presence was not focused at all. As the cloudy sky gave a darker and nearer sight to those two, a huge shadow casted itself upon them. Realising something, they both looked up to see what was blocking the sunlight. It was a giant creature, soaring high in the sky, of the shape of a massive bird. Both of them were shocked and trembling at the same time.

"I-It can't be..that huge creature, C-Clow Card?" said Thyme nervously.

"It's giant!" continued Yuanzi.

"Incredible..it's almost as if..it's a legendary monster. What is that card?"

"The Fly"

After overcoming themselves of nervousness, they stood firm taking a stance to fight the card. "Key that holds the power of darkness. Reveal your true form. I, Thyme, under our pact command thee, RELEASE!" Thyme took his scepter while Yuanzi readied her sword stance and leaped off to chase the beast.

"VOICE..MOVE..this one's on us!" said Thyme as he initiated the Voice Move combo. "DASH and JUMP..let's chase after them!" Thyme leaped off after the two.

"Shin Raitei Shourai!" chanted Yuanzi while shooting lightning at the giant bird. Strangely, each lightning strike was deflected for some reason. According to the Li archives, The Fly is vulnerable to wind based attack. Thunder was indeed a wind based element.

"I can only reach him from long range..then ARROW, let's do some bird hunting!" said Thyme as the Arrow Card came in front of him to be summoned. It turned Thyme's scepter into a longbow, with a tiny blue orb tip and wing shaped feathered quill. Thyme tried to aim properly but he missed the shot despite the size of the target. "Damn, I can't aim and run at the same time! SHOT! Assist Arrow, volley shots!" he said as he detached Arrow from his scepter. However, each projectile was either blown away by the wind or deflected.

"It can't be shot down?! Then how am I supposed to get it? It's far too high for the Jump card's reach." said Thyme.

"Shin Fuuka Shourai!" Yuanzi gained higher jump and floated higher to reach the bird but it was still as far as The Jump's reach. Looking at Yuanzi, Thyme got an idea. "Cards made by Clow, grant me your power. Take me to the height of the sky! Go FLOAT!" yelled him as the Float Card ejected from his holster and activated by the scepter.

"Shin Kashin Shourai! [Divine Fire God Summoning]" Yuanzi dished out fireballs to try reaching the bird from long range again, but Thyme used Shield to deflect them all. Yuanzi saw it and saddened,"Why?"

"He's mine! Don't you dare lay a finger on it!" yelled Thyme from above as he flew slowly chasing the bird. "Alright, now that I'm in better range, let's try my options.. THUNDER!" he summoned The Thunder to burn the bird, but again, lightning was deflected back and hit Thyme. "Gwaaaah!"

Yuanzi turned around to get to Thyme's falling body. She dispelled her wind spell and casted another one to cushion Thyme's landing. "Are you alright?"

"Ugh.." moaned Thyme as his body was still generating electricity. Yuanzi was too afraid to touch him because of it.

"We can't hit it from long range, we must attack it directly." advised her.

"I know that..guh!" scowled Thyme as he stood up after the electricity vanished. "If I can't chase it, then I'll just trap it for now. LOOP!"

The Fly flew in a circular motion due to The Loop distorting dimensional space, but it gained speed over time and created a whirlwind instead.

"Oh crap! Now I can't approach it even more. I was going to use Shadow to bind it, but now that there's the whirlwind, I don't know what to do. The wind breaks the shadow." he thought.

"Cancel the Loop now!" ordered Yuanzi.

For once, Thyme agreed with her and cancelled The Loop before it created bigger cyclone. As the bird freed from the circular motion, it soared high and released the cyclone toward Thyme and Yuanzi.

"Uh oh! Not good..FREEZE!" said Thyme as he released icy particles from his scepter toward the incoming cyclone.

"No don't use Freeze! Yaaah!" she said but it was too late as the particles were easily blown back at them.

"Come..SHIELD! Hold on, we'll still be blown away, in that case, WOODY, use your roots and tie us to the ground." he ordered.

The cyclone sucked the two inside and went past them. The two closed their eyes as the wind grazed the Shield and opened their eyes after it passed.

"Phew..that was close..wait a minute! Why did I save you too?" said Thyme.

Yuanzi giggled before she replied,"You talk all high and mighty, but subconsciously, you care for me."

"Nevermind! Consider us even then..Moreover, the bird..and where's your sister?"

"Uhh..she went back to the cottage. I don't think she can sense Clow Card this far."

"Abandoned by our partners I see, how sad. Might not hurt sharing battle tactics with you though, but I will still be the one to capture it first." said Thyme lowering his tone.

"The Fly should be weak to projectiles, I don't know why he's immune to it."

"No he's not immune..it's just that our attacks never make it. It's like something redirect and blow them. Some kind of shield..but invisible.." analysed Thyme.

"Hmm if it's physical objects, then air pressure could play a part. I mean, The Fly could create huge gust and air pressure with its flapping wings. But somehow it works for energy projectiles such as lightning and frozen particle..I wonder what that means.." pondered Yuanzi.

"Air pressure, huh? Then let's see the true form of this shield. FLOWER!" casted Thyme as The Flower spread her petals toward the flying bird. The petals started to move in a flowing circular motion surrounding the bird. Some of them were blown away but the others remained in the spinning motion. It looked as if the flowers was rotating around the bird for a certain radius.

"Hmph..I see. The invisible shield of the bird is none other than wind itself. But what I don't get is how wind can deflect lightning.." continued Thyme.

"The Fly is not capable of creating shield for itself..unless there is another card doing the job. And the card that has the ability to deflect lightning, either The Shield or the ruler of the wind elemental itself, The Windy Card." explained Yuanzi.

"So it's two cards in one go..an elemental card even..fine by me. All more the reason for me to catch it before you do!" said Thyme as he tailed the bird again from below again.

"Ah..hey..!" Yuanzi wasn't able to stop him, thus only followed him behind.

Thyme jumped as high as he could. The wind shield should be close to his distance. "Let's go Shield!" Thyme forcefully entered the barrier by grazing his own shield. There was sound of friction between the shield against the sharp wind. He knew that he could only enter half of his body through. "I'm counting on you, SAND! Go!" He threw in sand to block The Fly's vision, however as some of the sand that went inside the wind shield spun around it, even sand could become a sharp spinning particles. The Fly let out a screeching noise as it was hurt and blinded by the sand. Thyme pushed himself out of the wind shield to land.

The Fly finally noticed the two humans' presence below it and turned its body around toward them. It flew lower and accelerating itself as if it was going for a dive attack. "Brace for impact..or not. THROUGH! Grant me a chance to get past the gale!" Along with The Through's help, Thyme managed to get past the wind. There was only the bird and him one on one. "SWORD!"

"Cards made by Clow, lend me your strength! POWER!" chanted Thyme as he increased the sword's strength. "Take this! Hyaaaah!" yelled him. A loud crashing noise between the two colliding forces was heard before Thyme and The Fly were pushed back. Luckily, The Woody was still active thus bound Thyme's feet so he didn't fall. The Fly, on the other hand, crashed to the ground.

"Perfect..now stay there.." he said as he reverted his scepter and prepared the magic circle to capture the card. "Return to your true fo...arrrgh!"

The Fly flapped its wings again and caused Thyme's balance to waver. It stood up and started to fly away from him. "No..not again.." groaned Thyme.

"Shin Raitei Shourai!" chanted Yuanzi quickly before the bird could reach the sky. The lightning went through and hit The Fly. Both Thyme and Yuanzi were shocked as this time the lightning was not repelled. "Huh? The wind shield's gone..?"

However the bird endured the pain and fled from the two. "Open fire! Shot, Arrow, Thunder!" ordered him to his active cards floating in the area. This time they successfully took the bird down, but it was still struggling on the ground. Yuanzi leaped on top of it and put her sword right on top of its feather. The sword emitted an aura that binds the bird's movement. "Now seal it quick!" she yelled.

Without hesitation Thyme quickly sealed the card. "Don't relax just yet..The Windy is still around!" said Yuanzi.

"I know.. but hey..thanks.." replied him awkwardly.

"If they fight as two, why don't we fight as two as well?" she answered without looking at him.

"Yeah.."

"Still..I don't know how can we stop the wind? We can barely see it.." she added.

"The main body, huh? If we can't see it, we just have to feel it..I have something in mind..SNOW!"

As the snow poured from above, whenever there was wind, the snow would be blown in that direction, creating a pattern to locate the wind's flow. Thyme and Yuanzi followed the direction after the snow piled for a while. "Hmm this is where the wind is strongest, it seems."

"In that case, there's only one more thing to do before it reveals its main body. MIST, create a layer in the air!" chanted Thyme.

Through the mist, they could see there was a small space in the air not affected by the mist. "Found it!" said Thyme. "The Windy!" called Yuanzi. The Windy responded when her name was called. She showed herself in the air, the figure of a tall woman surrounded by gales. After she saw the two, she turned around and flew away. "Hey..she's running away!"

"Wind cannot go past solid objects..I'll call MAZE!" called Thyme as the maze walls were blocking the wind from passing through. The Windy went in anyway and drove her way inside to find an exit. Thyme and Yuanzi could see the trails of snow went inside the maze then followed it. They followed the snow trail and eventually cornered her in a dead end.

"Even though we cornered her, I can't capture it." said Thyme as the Windy kept moving around in the corner.

"I know what to do.." said Yuanzi as she took out The Watery card,"Only an elemental card can defeat elemental card."

"..." Thyme didn't know what to say..

"Here goes.. WATERY!" yelled Yuanzi as she threw the card in front of her and pointed her sword to it. The water formed a spherical liquid that enveloped The Windy, preventing her from moving around. "Now's your chance..Thyme."

"... I don't like where this is going.." said Thyme as he hesitated and glanced at Yuanzi.

Yuanzi's serious expression turned into a smile when Thyme looked at her. Thyme let out a long sigh. "Fine, here we go.." he said in a despair.

"LOCK..seal her powers.." ordered him to seal The Windy's power to weaken her.

"Return to your original form. Clow Card.."

The Windy was absorbed, and obviously the card went straight to Yuanzi's hand afterwards. Thyme was very quiet after Yuanzi held the two elemental cards in her hand. She saw Thyme's displeased expression. She must've thought that after all his hard work, the card ended up in her hands after all. She walked closer to him.

"Here…" she said while laying out her hand which held The Windy Card.

Thyme raised his hanged head, slowly turning his face toward her hand. "What's this? A consolation?" he said in a flat tone.

"You keep it.."

"I don't understand your intention.."

"Me neither.." she said that with a giggle.

"You can't realise your plan if I have the cards, you know that right?"

"I know.." she said without any hesitation.

"I...I can't.." replied him after letting out a long sigh.

She didn't answer, but still offering the card to him. Thyme reluctantly raised his hand to pick it up many times, but he couldn't do it. "I..I already got The Fly.. it's not fair if I take everything."

"It's okay.." she said.

"A..at least..we can swap them.."

"No..I don't want it. Here.." she shook her head and offered her hand holding the card again in front of him.

There was so much going on in Thyme's mind. "This could be a trap..but even though it's trap, it's a good one to be baited in, I mean it's The Windy Card. What can go worse if I have this card in my hand? Nevermind that, the problem is I can't read her motivations. This is a good opportunity to get ahead of her after all, with a single elemental card, I could stand on par with them in the next hunt. I..I don't know what to do…" he thought.

Thyme gripped his scepter hard and slowly raised his left hand to pick the card. As he touched the card, Yuanzi could feel the weight of Thyme's hand almost as if his hand was touching her hand directly. She staggered a bit, but held her hand still. Time felt very slow as Thyme slowly slipped the card out of her hand. He stared at the card and made a depressed look on his face. Yuanzi stole a glance at his face.

Thyme realised that she looked at him. "Ah..umm..sorry..I mean, thanks.." he said without daring to look her in the eye.

"N-No..I didn't do anything..I-It was purely your effort.."

"No!" he denied loudly. "Ah..sorry..didn't mean to raise my voice."

Yuanzi waved her hand to tell him that there was no need to apologise.

"Without you, I wouldn't be able to make it. It's because you're helping me.."

"Ssh.." she raised her finger in front of her lips,"Don't tell my sister, okay?"

Thyme nodded reluctantly. Yuanzi looked at Thyme's thankful smile, before she bashfully turned her face against him, sheathed her sword, ran away and left a goodbye,"I had fun..until next time!"

"Yeah..me too"


	7. Chapter 6: Proof of Power

"Look..no matter what she gave you, it's obviously leading to my extinction in the end!" complained Helios as Thyme told him how he got a hold of The Windy.

Thyme had no right to talk back as Helios kept ranting on. He couldn't blame the poor thing because he was supposed to be the victim of all this, yet looked like Thyme was backstabbing him.

"I've had enough of this, there are only few Clow Cards left. Seal them before those sisters, then reclaim the Watery Card in order to commence The Final Judgment." said Helios before he ended his rant.

"Wait..what's that?"

"Nevermind..I'll tell you later, it's no use talking about it now. You don't even have a complete deck."

"Hmph..okay then.." said Thyme. He sat on his desk chair and browsed his computer to check on his study schedule. He was scrolling through the spreadsheet of the week's lecture schedule without paying attention to it, until he found a name that piqued his interest. "Kinomoto?"

He went back to look at the name 'Kinomoto' as a last name of one of the lecturer for his statistic lecture. He called on Helios to look at it but he was already asleep inside the wardrobe that Thyme could hear the snoring from outside.

"Kaho Kinomoto? Hmm..this is interesting.. If I recall, Helios mentioned that Mistress Sakura's last name was..Kinomoto as well. Is this another coincidence? What's her relation to Mistress Sakura? Is Kinomoto a common surname? I'll take a note to observe this teacher carefully."

The next day, Thyme went to university. He met the Li sisters on the way. Miaozi offered a friendly greeting while Yuanzi didn't even want to look at him. "Huh? Weird girl."

Thyme didn't pay too much attention in his classes until the statistic lecture started. He sat properly and made sure he focused everything on this lecturer. So after the scheduled time passed almost a minute without anyone in front, someone opened the door, went in. A tall woman figure wearing a blazer and a short skirt, pair of high heels. Her dark red long hair was tied in a bun on her back head. She appeared to look like in her late 30s.

She put her books and laptop on top of the lecturer's podium, wore her glasses then took a quick look over everyone in the room. Thyme was paying attention to every single movement she made to the point that he glared at her. Then she stepped forward to introduce herself.

"Greetings everyone, my name is Kaho Kinomoto. I will be replacing your statistic lecturer from now on due to the international seminar he's attending. I hope everyone will get along with me. Do you have any questions up to here?"

Thyme loosened himself a bit after her introduction, then his friend poked him from the side whispering,"Hey that's weird. Mr. Kelt was supposed to be away for 2 weeks only."

"Uhh..I didn't notice. I skipped few last lectures.." whispered Thyme to his classmate, he paused for a moment,"Hold on..do you have any other lead on this? Anything strange on her?"

"Hmm..no? She looks like a nice lecturer, look at that smile..ha"

Thyme couldn't poke for more information on her unless he asks her himself. Thus the class commenced as normal, Thyme wasted his energy and time trying to find anything strange out of this lecturer. As a result, he got tired and yawned a lot at the end of lecture. The time was about to end, thus Kaho left her message for the students to review the material again at home. Thyme was about to get up from his seat while thinking that it was just a same name coincidence. But that thought shattered when Kaho gave a sharp glance directed at Thyme. As Thyme's sensing abilities had been harnessed, he could feel it, thus raised his head to look at the source of the gaze. "What the..?"

Without saying another word, Kaho left the lecture room followed by the other students. Thyme was frozen still in front of his desk, trying to figure out what was going on. After noticing something in his mind, he ran outside to chase after her. He frantically searched for her until he bumped into the Li sisters, Yuanzi in particular.

"Yaaah! Look where you going, you pervert!" she said spontaneously.

"Yuanzi, it's him." said Miaozi who watched them fell to the ground. Miaozi offered her a hand to stand up, but Yuanzi ignored it and looked at the person in front of her instead.

"Ah! AAAAAHHH!" Yuanzi screamed loud enough to attract attentions around them.

"Ouch..hey, it's you.. my bad. what are you DOING screaming like THAT?!" said Thyme as he stood up and offered her a hand while panicking. As her voice got louder and people stared at him, Thyme ran away to a corner. He leaned against the wall, panting and then exhaled deeply.

"Yo.."

"Yeeaaarrgh!" yelled Thyme after getting startled from the corner. It was Miaozi, she followed Thyme after he ran away. One may wonder how Miaozi kept up with Thyme's speed. "You scared me!"

"What a dumb guy..you didn't even help my sister out and ran away." she said.

"Like I'm in the position to stay there while people glaring at me as if I sexually harassed her!"

"Haha very explicit.." she replied sarcastically,"Anyway, why were you running like a ghost like that? It's not like I sense any Clow Card presence here."

"Now see here, we are actually rivals..no not rivals but enemies in battlefield! How can you talk so casually to me, so does your sister?! We are seeking the same thing, and I heard you are planning to destroy my Clow Cards." he said with a raised tone.

Miaozi nodded without any hesitation and a flat expression,"True..your point?"

Thyme opened his mouth then paused as he couldn't find the words he's trying to convey, or rather didn't know what to say after that comeback.

"Aha..you're worried. Don't worry, we decided to do this diplomatically. Dishing out force against force would only leave one party unhappy. Slowly..but sure."

Thyme was scared of her words as she seemed more calm and reserved, calculating and more scheming than her twin sister. The elder sister was far more dangerous than the younger one, he thought. "D-Does that mean you won't try to steal my cards and destroy them?"

"Nope..but we will ask you."

"Uhh…"

The conversation couldn't get any awkward than this. She openly declared war with a straight face, without any compromise nor a single hesitation right in front of her enemy. Thyme could only let out a sigh and a facepalm handling this girl.

"Anyway, are you a distant relative of what-you-call-him, head of Li clan?" asked Thyme.

"Master Shaoran? What about him?"

"According to Helios, he is also part of Kinomoto family, is that right?"

"Yep..in-laws."

"What?! Good god! You mean, he married someone from Kinomoto family? I mean, this can be easier.."

"You didn't know? He married Mistress Sakura Kinomoto." she said casually.

"Oh..ohhhhhh!" responded Thyme as he tried to process both the information, his excitement, and questions inside his head. That was the only word that came out of his mouth.

"Okay okay..then let's cut this short then..do you know someone named Kaho Kinomoto?" asked him after clearing his throat.

"Yep..she is Mistress Sakura's sister-in-law. What about her?"

"Oh..oooh I see" responded Thyme retardedly as his head was just being messed up. All his previous impression of Mistress Sakura from Helios seemed different from the reality. Helios always spoke of her bravery, heroic deeds, and beauty. Regardless, the valuable information of his new teacher might be useful in the future to determine whether she is Thyme's ally or not. Thyme bid her goodbye afterwards then left to get lunch from nearby cafe.

As Thyme turned into a corner in the empty hallway, he saw someone he didn't expect, Kaho Kinomoto. She smiled from afar, Thyme tried to hide his face while walking toward the door pretending she directed it at someone behind him. He walked past her with a bit faster pace, until he heard her saying something.

"It's going to be a hot day, isn't it?" she said.

Thyme raised his eyebrows and turned his face at her. Pretending to play along with the scenario, he said,"Ah yes, it's 31 degrees outside."

"I think your name is...Mr Macquarie, is it not?"

"A-ah..yes.. Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you, Mrs Kinomoto."

"Kaho is fine."

"W-well then..Ka-ho.." he said awkwardly.

Kaho lowered her body, leaned forward at Thyme's chest. "It's a pretty brooch you have there." she complimented. Thyme reacted by covering it with his hand, stepped away from her with a sharp glare at her. Kaho looked surprised. She smiled then said,"I heard you were looking for me, asking around campus.."

Thyme became more cautious and serious after hearing that. He thought that nobody could've heard the conversation as he kept low voice all the time, not to mention it was masked by the crowd's noise. He sensed that Kaho has been observing him since first time she glanced at him during the class.

"N-not in particular, I just had some concerns with the materials you presented today." he said.

"Don't be alarmed. I'm not going to hurt you. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me." she replied.

Despite the calm demeanour of Kaho, for some reason Thyme couldn't let his guard down or speak casually with her. He sensed other aura, presence around her that overpowers everything he had felt before, even the Clow Cards. Perhaps his body automatically reacts to the fear he was feeling.

"N-no..I just, need some time to adjust.." he said.

"Very well then..make sure you review your materials at home. And be careful of the heat outside." she replied as she walked away to the corner Thyme was coming from before.

Thyme waited until she left the scene before he loosened himself. He felt he couldn't wait until evening to let Helios know about this, thus he called him on his earpiece connected to his phone inside the pocket. "Helios, we need to talk."

"What's with the serious tone? Have you finally realised your mistake?" said Helios as he picked the huge phone with his small hands.

"Are you still on about that? Get over it, I promise I won't abandon you.."

"Whatever.. What is it?"

"I just talked to someone named Kaho Kinomoto."

"! You WHAT?! Kaho, you say? That formerly Kaho Mizuki? Tell me the details! Now!"

Thyme explained everything that happened between him and Kaho and also included his theory of how the issues might be connected with each other. Helios took a moment to process the information, then replied,"I fear that the end may be near."

"What do you mean?"

"Final Judgment is closer than we think. I have a very good feeling that you will be able to capture all the cards by the end of this week, excluding the Watery of course."

"No need to rub it in my face, mate! But why do you think so?"

"The fact that the messenger of Yue is here, and the full moon is coming by the end of this week as well. I can't explain it well, but that's the gist of it."

"Yue..as in the one you told me, the story of Mistress Sakura's guardian?!"

"One and only, Moon Guardian, Yue. Didn't you feel something around her?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure how to put it. It's different from Clow Cards presences. It's overwhelming, lonely, but also bright and dark at the same time."

"That's what I call the moon presence. What you feel is the power of the moon, created by Clow Reed. So the conclusion is, she is here to assist the Final Judgment. But what I don't understand, I'm not related to Yue at all. My power is not of the moon."

"I hate to listen to lectures through the phone, but go on anyway."

"Like I said, Yue is Mistress Sakura's guardian. He governs the moon aspect of the former Clow Cards belonged to Sakura. Haven't you realised why the magic circle that you use has sun and moon on it? I, for one, am not related to it. What that means is that unlike those two, Cerberus and Yue, I don't feed on elemental energy. The cards that govern my power, is Light and Dark. Thus in order for me to return to my true form, you need to capture the Light and Dark cards. Need I remind you, if you let any of Li sisters to catch them before you do, it's game over."

"Yue..How can I get more information on him?" asked Thyme curiously.

"Simply ask the messenger you met just then, Kaho Mizuki. But just on the safe side, it's best that you capture them as soon as possible, the more they walk around freely, the stronger they get and will be harder to catch."

"Understood. Well then, I'll call you back if I encounter any. I'm hungry now, bye!"

"Ah..wait up, I haven't…" said Helios before his line hung up.

It was a very hot weather, Thyme walked out of his campus wiping his sweat every now and then. The sun was very bright as well, almost as if it burned through his skin. He went to the nearest store to get an icy cold beverages to cool off, then he saw something smoking in the very distance. The location was not in the centre of city, but a bit off around the outskirts. If memory served him right, that was where the location of giant solar panel that powered the city itself. He was going to ignore it as he thought it could be just an accident, but then he recalled Kaho's remarks of 'hot' and 'heat'. Thyme felt something wasn't right, he decided to go toward the solar power plant area by bicycle.

As Thyme approached the power plant, crowds, police, ambulance and firefighters were already assembled there. There was also a news helicopter flying above. Thyme felt that this is no ordinary fire accident, he was going to go past the police line before he got pushed off by the police around the area. "Shit..I can't get close.. I felt a faint Clow Card presence inside there."

"Well that can't be helped, right?" said someone behind him which startled him. It was actually Miaozi and her twin sister Yuanzi.

"Seriously, the moon presence completely masked it so we didn't realise it too until later." continued Yuanzi.

"Hey cardcaptor, put everyone to sleep. We can't do our job with these people interfering." ordered Miaozi.

"Fine..let me find a place to hide first." said Thyme as he went to a corner of a building. "RELEASE! Put everyone to slumber, SLEEP!"

After the Sleep finished spreading sleeping powder over everyone, Thyme and the Li sisters headed inside the power plant. However, the temperature inside was much more scorching than outside which was already burning as well. "Ouff..I can't stand the heat. WATERY!" said Miaozi as she summoned Watery to coat her and Yuanzi with thin layer of cooling liquid. "How about me?" asked Thyme.

Miaozi didn't bother as if it was normal to exclude Thyme. Yuanzi put on an awkward smile at him. "Fine, I can do it myself." said Thyme as his left hand took a card from the holster then threw it in the air,"Grant me a suit that protects me from heat, SNOW!". Instead of covering Thyme with snow particles, The Snow appeared in her true form and hugged him from behind. Yuanzi and Miaozi blushed immediately seeing that, then followed by Yuanzi yelling something like "perverted loser".

"Putting aside on how she does it; it does work after all" responded Thyme to Yuanzi's remark.

Yuanzi pouted her face as she walked behind looking at Thyme and The Snow. Miaozi wasn't bothered by it though, but she did say something,"Hey, aren't you so against us going with you chasing Clow Cards?"

"Err..that's..well" said Thyme while glancing at Yuanzi. She ignored him as she was still pouting on him.

"Well..no problem with me. The card will be ours anyway..let's move on." said Miaozi.

Thyme remembered Helios' message to him, and he intended to carry it through to the end, as it was reflected in his eyes, which resembled the eyes he had during their first confrontation. They walked further inside to the generator engine for the solar panel.

"What is this heat?! It went through the Watery shield." complained Yuanzi as she fanned herself with her hands.

Thyme saw The Snow was hurting while grappling on to him. It was to be expected of such tremendous heat. It was no wonder that the machine exploded due to overheating, but the problem was how did the heat became so strong. But the mystery was figured out as the Clow Card presence was the strongest as well.

"This is..Clow Card's doing." said Miaozi as she drew her sword followed by Yuanzi.

"Fire card..is it?" said Thyme.

"The Firey..one of elemental cards."

"Stand back, ladies..this one's mine. I mean it." warned Thyme.

"I don't remember we accept orders from you, we're moving in!" ordered Miaozi as she and Yuanzi leaped forward then took out their enchanted charm paper,"Shin Suiryuu Shourai! [Divine Water Dragon Summoning]"

Two water dragons were summoned and they washed the machine as they pass through. The Watery helped them keep the cold temperature so that the dragons won't boil and vanish. As the room temperature cooled down and the machine didn't generate heat any longer, the only source of heat became visible as the melting steel was sprayed with water as well, revealing the true form of The Firey.

It was a figure of a boy, with flame burning hair, arms, and lower torso. He looked at the Li sisters with anger, and boosted his power through the rage. He shot barrage of fireballs toward them. The Li sisters tried to dodge them but the hot air still hurt them as it burned parts of their clothes. Meanwhile, Thyme contacted Helios to formulate his battle tactic.

"Helios, I have The Firey in front of me. Any tips?" said Thyme over the earpiece.

"I said it already. Defeat it with an elemental card or more."

"I'll try.." said Thyme as he focused on the battlefield again. His left hand took two cards from his holster and performed the Voice Move combo. "VOICE and MOVE..let's go!"

He glanced at the Snow who was still clinging on to him,"It's okay Snow, I'll be fine. Return now." he ordered The Snow back to her card form and put it back in his holster. "I'll make this one mine!"

"Cards made by Clow, give me the true power of whirling gale, WINDY!"

The Windy appeared from the card in front of Thyme's scepter, blowing a strong wind throughout the massive room. However, The Firey seemed to enjoy it, or rather the flame on his body grew bigger.

"What are you doing?! You just fed him with more power." said Yuanzi.

"You can't defeat fire with wind, you do it with water!" added Miaozi as she ordered The Watery to attack The Firey.

However due to empowered The Firey, The Watery was no longer a match for him. She was forced to be returned into her card form. The Firey, getting angrier than ever, bombarded the room with intense flame. The Li sister ran back to the door where they first came in, also where Thyme stood.

"Sorry..I.." said Thyme.

"No time for that! Concentrate on the battlefield!"

The Firey had cornered their prey and casted a firewall in front of the door so that they couldn't escape from the room. He readied a giant fireball to finish them in the corner, then shot it at very fast speed.

"SHIELD!" yelled Thyme while protecting the Li sisters behind him. Some of the fire sparks hit Thyme instead and burned his clothes' sleeves. Burnt mark on his skin were visible, even to the Li sisters due to the smoke and smell of burning flesh.

"Ah..Thyme!" gasped Yuanzi as she tried to help him cure the burnt injuries,"WATERY!"

"H-Huh? It won't activate..why?!" said Yuanzi as she tried her sword against the card again and again. Miaozi didn't know what was going on as well.

"You guys! Get out of here quickly..Let the path upon my track be opened, THROUGH!" said Thyme as he panted and knelt due to his injuries. Miaozi reluctantly went toward the cleared door, but Yuanzi refused to leave. "Yuanzi, we need to retreat now!"

"I..I can't leave him, Jie!"

"You fool, if you guys die here, then who will be able to capture him?!" yelled Thyme angrily.

"B-but..I.." Yuanzi's voice staggered as she held unto the Watery Card tightly.

"We have no time for that! Yuanzi!" said Miaozi as she pulled Yuanzi's hand out of the flame through the opened path. "Nooooooo…"

"Hurry up, I can't sustain it any longer!"

The Firey, determined to not letting anyone escape, charged them with quick speed until he was almost looked like a meteor trying to crash upon them.

"Fuck! Stop him, TIME!" yelled Thyme as he summoned Time to stop The Firey, but it didn't affect him at all. "Damn..well then..ugh.." Thyme coughed up blood that spilt in front of him.

"Thyme!" yelled Yuanzi as she pulled herself back to the engine room, however The Through's power was reaching its limit as well as Thyme's body. Miaozi was forced to let Yuanzi's hand go as the pillar of flames separated them once again. Thyme glanced at Yuanzi's sad face looking at blood dripping from his mouth. He coughed up again before saying,"Wanna do this again together?"

Thyme's word turned her expression from sadness into determined eyes. Yuanzi stood up in front of Thyme facing The Fiery, took out another enchanted paper then threw it in the air as she used her sword to summon it,"Shin Kashin Shourai!"

Fireballs spewing from the paper and sword as they clashed with The Fiery's fireballs. The Firey continued his dashing charge toward them. Yuanzi prepared for the impact while protecting Thyme behind her, until she heard Thyme summoned another card,"FREEZE!"

Cold air filled the room to counter the intense heat, subsequently slowing down The Firey and eventually stopped his charge when he was about to hit them. However, The Freeze was not enough to stop him, both The Firey, Thyme and Yuanzi knew of this as well. The Firey flew away from them, charging his fire from afar. Thyme knew his body was at his limit, thus called on Shield to return to its card form, then handed it to Yuanzi.

"Hey..use..this.." he said while coughing up, extended his hand over to Yuanzi. Over his earpiece he could hear Helios yelling on him.

"Look..if we fail here..I might die..so..this is..the only way." he said to Helios with low voice so that Yuanzi couldn't hear.

"Thyme..you.." said Yuanzi.

"Hurry.."

Yuanzi took the card and summoned it. She casted the barrier a bit further than their position to block The Firey before it got too close on them. Whether it was because The Firey was too strong or Yuanzi's power was not enough to strengthen the barrier, he broke the barrier instantly.

"Yaaah!" screamed Yuanzi.

"Is this the end?"

They both closed their eyes, hoping that their death will be painless. As the sound of fire closing by, they started to feel the intense heat. However that was only a brief moment before the heat completely disappeared. Thyme slowly opened his eyes to see what was going on. There he saw the least expected person to show up, Kaho Kinomoto. She was holding a chakram bell, swinging it around. Every swing distinguished the fire along the arc it moves.

"Kaho..what are you doing here?" asked Thyme. Yuanzi also opened her eyes and saw Kaho's figure in the middle of the fire.

"It can't be..what is she doing over here?" continued Yuanzi.

"Sorry, I couldn't bear to watch it any longer. I really hoped you would deal with this by yourselves. Macquarie-san, please follow my instructions."

"Ah-uhh..yes ma'am!" answered Thyme hesitantly.

"Yuanzi-chan..may I borrow The Watery?" asked Kaho as she smiled towards her.

"Y-Yes!" replied Yuanzi as she handed the card to Thyme as instructed.

"Okay, are we ready? Now you have to listen carefully as I must keep warding off The Firey while you do this. First, you will need The Windy."

"You heard her, come Windy!" Thyme ordered The Windy from the card holster and grabbed it with his hand that was already holding The Watery.

"Now, lay the two cards together. Concentrate your thoughts, gather your willpower. This will be a different summoning experience than you ever had. Are you ready?"

Thyme nodded while having thoughts in his mind,"Is this..what I think it is?"

"Now for the final part, I will step out of here, the fire will be spreading back to you. If you don't stop it now, you will definitely burnt to ashes. The decision, is yours." said Kaho as she stopped waving the chakram bell and the fire grows again. She briefly glanced at Yuanzi who was standing behind Thyme.

Thyme noticed what Kaho was trying to say and interpreted it in his mind as he had to win no matter what.

"Best of luck, you two." said Kaho as she stopped the chakram movement and walked toward the exit.

"This time, I won't fail." Thyme said.

"Make two cards work as one, here goes.." Magic circle started to grow below Thyme's feet. He threw the cards in the air, they spun around as Thyme continued his incantation,"Cards made by Clow, grant me the power surpassing the limit, let the two souls of wind and water become a new force I seek and open my path to victory! WINDY, WATERY!"

Thyme stretched his scepter toward two cards, he had forgotten that the two cards must be overlaid, but somehow he had a feeling that this will work. Before the two cards were summoned, Thyme memorised the feeling of when his mind was clear and focused, gathered his willpower to survive and win. A thin angular line appeared from both cards, slowly forming a circle with each card at each side. Then, the two cards were summoned simultaneously as the two graceful figures of Windy and Watery came out of the cards.

"Thyme? Dual-cast?" pondered Helios over the earpiece as he heard the incantations.

The Windy created strong air pressure that even blew the fire away from Thyme and Yuanzi while the Watery sprinkled high density of shower over the room, lowering the temperature down. After the room temperature stabilised and the steam disappeared, Thyme ordered both cards to attack The Firey with one stroke of his scepter pointing at The Firey.

Together, the Windy and the Watery formed whirlpool that absorbed half of The Firey's body. The Firey tried to escape but he was too powerless against the combined power of two elemental cards at once. Thyme saw this as a perfect time to seal it, "Return to your original form, Clow Card!"

Thus, The Firey was sealed under Thyme's hand. Thyme looked at it for a long time before putting it inside his holster. He had a lot going on his thought. A pat on his shoulder suddenly brought him back to reality.

"Great job, Thyme." said Yuanzi with an earnest smile.

Thyme blushed and couldn't answer her properly, instead handed out The Watery back to her while lowering his head.

"T-Thank you." replied Yuanzi as she took the card slowly from Thyme's hand.

"D-Don't mention it! Moreover, you seem to know that teacher Kaho a lot. I trust you are working together in this case?"

"N-No..we just met a long time ago once. She travelled around the globe. She knows a lot of people, but I can't remember her too much back then."

"I see, nevermind then."

"But, there is one thing, whenever she appears, it means something major will happen soon."

Thyme recalled similar conversation with Helios just a while ago. He realised that the end was near. There were only few cards left. Kaho's mysterious power that dispelled The Firey's fire was also another case to solve. But for now, Thyme must make a good use of his new dual-cast power in order to collect the remaining cards.


	8. Chapter 7: Fantasy World of Earthy

It was a rainy night, Thyme had just gotten back from his work and had a long warm shower. Helios was watching the news on TV when suddenly he poked at Thyme on a rather strange news report.

"The victim believed he saw a dragon and a giant on the other side of the world. We believe that hallucination could be caused by drowsiness or drunkenness.." said the reporter.

"No! I saw it and can feel the warm fire breath of the dragon. I was completely sober I tell you! You can ask the other person who walked here the other night, he saw the same thing. See? It's consistent, you can't be telling me that it's just my imagination if other people can attest to my story." rebuked the interviewee.

"Mind checking this out, Thyme?" asked Helios as he pulled Thyme's arm.

"Mm.." Thyme brushed his wet hair with his towel while thinking, then said,"Seriously it can be anything. ET, aliens, or even Clow Cards."

"I can't think of any card that is capable of this. But it wouldn't hurt to take a peek on the location for a while, right?"

"Right. I need to test out my new dual-cast techniques as well. We'll wait until the rain stops." answered Thyme as he walked back to his room to get changed.

Ever since Thyme mastered the dual-cast, he had been visiting the prophetic dream using The Sleep and The Dream. He reassured Helios that everything was alright and this changed back Helios' attitude towards him. He promised that he will obtain the rest of the cards and not let the Li sisters get their hands on them as he had acquired the new power to fight them.

As the rain stopped around midnight, the duo headed out to the location that was in the news. They could see police officers walking by along with other civilians, which were attracted to the news story and wanted to prove it themselves.

"Okay, we can't move around carelessly with this many crowd here. Hide inside my pocket." said Thyme to Helios.

They set up a waiting spot with a clear view of the surrounding hills. It was a chilly night after the rain, Thyme was wearing a long tailcoat with a dark red scarf. After they waited for almost three hours, Thyme was about to fell asleep when a yelling voice from afar woke him up. He set out quickly to locate the source of the sound. He saw someone was yelling and waving to the sky below the hill, with the other people cheering around him.

"Are they part of the truth seeker, or just a drunk party people?" asked Helios as his head popped out of Thyme's coat pocket.

"No idea. Let's keep on a lookout for a while." replied Thyme. He looked at the sky where the man was waving at. There was nothing except bright starry sky. He squinted his eyes to make sure he didn't miss anything. Still he couldn't find anything interesting, so he turned around to get back to his waiting post. But as he turned around, the crowd noise got louder, Thyme had to turn back to check what was going on. He was surprised of what he saw with his own eyes this time.

"W-what the hell is that?" asked Thyme prompting Helios to pop out of his pocket.

"A-aaaaahh..! It's the moon, so close to us."

"The moon's up there" pointed Thyme.

"It's not moon? Wait a minute, I can see things on the surface, are they...plants?"

"Can't be sure seeing from here, let's go closer! RELEASE! Fly!"

"Hold on Thyme! Are you trying to reveal yourself flying above those people?" asked Helios.

"A flying man is nothing compared to that thing." answered Thyme as he set in flight with Helios following him behind.

As Thyme got closer, the shape of the object started to become clearer. It was a giant sphere made of soil, trees growing on its surface, complete with terrains and water bodies. It almost looked like a miniature version of the Earth itself. Thyme planned to land on it before he was hit by a flying creature about ten times his size. The creature resembled a giant lizard with scales and wide membrane wings.

"Oh crap! That's...the dragon!" said Thyme.

"Now see that?! My true form is much more cooler than that!" cheered Helios.

"This is no time to be admiring it! It's coming for us again! Spread out!"

Thyme accelerated his winged scepter as fast as possible because the dragon was following him. But then he saw Helios right behind him flying in the same direction. "Why you?! No wonder it chases me all along!" grunted Thyme.

"You're telling me to outmanoeuvre that thing? No way! Gimme the communicator!" replied Helios.

Thyme sighed as he threw the communicator earpiece to Helios,"You're hopeless. Now, fly low and let me handle this."

Thyme's left hand reached his card holster and started his Voice Move combo. He turned around as soon as Helios left him with the dragon alone. Thyme saw the crowd were still cheering down below. "Man, this could turn into a messy newspaper article in the next morning."

"Alright then, it's time for dragon slaying! I call upon the Shot and the Firey, unite your power under me! Dual-cast, everlasting fires of doom, Napalm Fire!" said Thyme as he dual-casted The Firey and The Shot.

A barrage of fire missiles bombarded the giant dragon creating explosive flame, but it didn't seem affected at all. However the dragon sensed hostility and breathed fire to retaliate. Thyme was caught by surprise that his cards did not work at all and the sudden counter attack. He flew away from the fire wave as fast as he could, but the fire caught up to him. He turned around facing the fire instead.

"The Shield, The Windy, unite your strength under me! Dual-cast, whirling barrier of gale, Air Shield!"

A spherical whirlwind appeared enveloping Thyme, but again the fire went through the shield as if it didn't exist. Thyme was engulfed in the fire and was screaming in agony that could be heard from Helios' earpiece.

"Thymeeee!" yelled Helios.

As the fire subsided, Thyme emerged from the blazing wave. However, he didn't have any burn marks or any sign of burn. Both Thyme and Helios were confused and trying to comprehend the situation.

"Thyme, are you alright?" asked Helios over the earpiece.

"Uhh..yeah I guess. That's weird, I wasn't even burned. My body is intact."

"I could hear you agonising though."

"The pain was real, it felt like a real burning sensation. Was that..a hallucination?"

"Can't tell. Your Clow Cards are not working against it too, I don't know what's going on here."

"Could this be not related to Clow Cards? Then we should step out of scene quickly." suggested Thyme.

"No..don't be hasty Thyme. I have a hunch, that this is The Create's doing. The Create's power is creating something out of nothing, however they can't interfere with something that already exists."

"Are you suggesting that, the world and the dragon are merely animated objects? Let's cut the chase then, what is its weakness?"

"I'm not sure yet, but if it's truly The Create then you 'erase' it."

"But of course, how could I not see that coming? Worth a try. Come, The Sword, The Erase! Let your power be united under my hand, dual-cast, the blade of the void, Rift Edge!"

Thyme had to cancel the Fly in order to turn his scepter into the sword, thus he was free falling above the dragon with his sword readied. Using the gravity momentum and speed, the sword quickly lunged and cut the dragon clean in half.

"FLOAT!" yelled Thyme as he summoned The Float to prevent him from falling to the ground and brought him back to the altitude. "Bedtime story's over. Return to your original form, Clow Card!"

"Noooo..you're too late!" yelled Helios.

The dragon that was cut in half disappeared into thin air before Thyme could seal it, preventing them from capturing the Create altogether.

"..."

Thyme let out a long sigh,"Now what?"

"We need to find another one, of course. I think the dragon's one of a kind, so you won't be getting anything out here." replied Helios.

"Great, we need to explore that floating land for more of The Create's creations. Man, what a drag!" complained Thyme as he slowly flew toward the tiny planet.

"What? You're tired already? You've been dual-casting too much, you know yourself that it drains your energy multiple times than a normal summon. You should restrain your advanced technique and not spam it right at the beginning of a battle!" said Helios.

"Yeah yeah, let's just get this over with."

The duo landed on the floating land, and to their surprise the world scenery was full of tall trees, flowery gardens, waterfalls and mystical creatures inhabiting the place. Thyme saw a spectacular rainbow followed by an aurora, then he realised that something was wrong.

"Now hold on a sec, why is everything here bigger? I don't remember it was this big when I see it from above. Helios, what's going on here? Huh, Helios?"

Thyme couldn't find Helios that was supposed to be with him when they landed. He tried to call him over the communicator but Helios did not answer.

"Well well..this is going to be interesting." mumbled Thyme as he still wondered all the giant objects around him. "I better start somewhere." he thought as he strode throughout the dense grassy field, climbed a rock to take a good view of the surroundings.

"Mm..there aren't any point of interest except...that strange looking castle. I suppose I should look for some clues there." he thought.

Thyme rustled his pockets but couldn't find either the scepter or the brooch, along with his card holster. "Alright now I'm sure this is Clow Card's doing too." he thought. He chose to head over to the castle firsthand instead of searching for the key in order to get food because he was both hungry and exhausted. The extensive use of dual-cast in the beginning was one of the contributing factor, along with the fact that it was midnight in the outside world where Thyme should be sleeping made his body overburdened. However as he got out of the foliages, he was welcomed by a giant reptile looking at him with hungry eyes and salivating tongue.

"Uh oh..bad luck!" he said while running away from it as fast as he could.

The reptile easily trapped him due to its bigger size and better reflexes. Every time Thyme changed his directions, the reptile jumped to block his path. Thyme was running out of ideas as he couldn't use his magic nor fight with his tiny body against a monster twenty times his size.

Thyme ran back inside the tall grass field and took out his long tailcoat, hung it over one of the grass as a distraction, then he made his way back to where the reptile was coming from. As expected, the reptile was tricked as it only remembered Thyme's colour by his coat. Thyme successfully escaped the reptile and made his way toward the castle.

"Heh..heh.." panted Thyme as he reached the castle gate and trying to catch his breath.

"I hope the creator of this world doesn't imagine me meeting a Gulliver." said Thyme sarcastically. He walked inside the castle courtyard and found giant dogs and cats running around. However as he was sneaking past them, the dog picked up his scent and approached him.

"Oh gimme a break here! I just escaped a monster lizard and now this massive mutt?! But hey, I'm such a fool. I almost forgot that they can't touch me because of The Create's effect. I just need to rush them over and endure the pain." he thought.

Thyme prepared to dash past the dog's legs, but the dog immediately caught him under its paw. Thyme was confused as how the dog can physically interact with him when it was supposed to be The Create's object,"How could this happen? I don't get it!"

Thyme extended his hand to pick some of the dog's fur out. He was able to touch it with his hand and he pulled it out. "Is it, not part of The Create?" he mumbled. However this was also a chance to escape as the dog whimpered because Thyme pulled its hair out and lift its paw.

Thyme knew he could not outrun a giant dog, thus he jumped inside the courtyard pond and proceeded underwater. He saw water creatures which was much bigger than his size. Finally he concluded that it was his body that got shrunk. Thyme got out of the waters after knowing that he was right in front of the main doors of the castle. He climbed the vine roots that was attached to the castle walls to reach the door knocker with a lion head. He jumped from the vines and swung his body back and forth to make a knock. After a while, Thyme could hear a loud footstep noise coming his way.

The door was opened while Thyme still hanging unto the door knocker ring. With his body balance shaken, he fell to the carpet inside the castle interior. In front of him, was a giant man which appeared to be a butler. He looked around and saw nobody thus closed the door again after Thyme slipped inside.

"Uhh..okay now let's hope this guy is not a cannibal and eat me the first thing he sees me." thought Thyme.

"Myo~"

"Huh?!" Thyme heard another voice coming from the door he came from. He turned around to find the source of the strange voice and found a girl of his size, dressed in fluffy clothes and a double pointy hat.

"Hey! Who are you?!" asked Thyme while raising his voice and pointing at her with his finger.

The girl didn't answer but was trembled after hearing Thyme's high voice.

"Oops..didn't mean to scare you. No hard feelings, okay?" apologised Thyme as he offered a handshake.

The girl was bashful, she almost touched Thyme's hand but pulled it back and ran away to the other direction.

"Uh hey! Wait up.. I just want to ask you why are you the only one that is as small as me!" yelled Thyme while giving a chase.

Thyme chased her to the kitchen area, then he lost track of her and gave up. He decided to look for food instead before continuing the search. However no matter where he looked, there was no food to be found. He climbed the chair and jumped to climb the table. There he found another girl his size with much fluffier outfit carrying a wand. He thought there were more people with the same size as him.

Thyme approached the girl and greeted her. Unlike the other one, this girl wasn't scared and smiled while accepting Thyme's handshake. "Let's start with a brief introduction, shall we? My name's Thyme."

"Sweet!" she said while smiling.

"Thanks..what's your name then?" asked Thyme as he got embarrassed.

"It's Sweet!"

"Huh? What? Sorry I didn't quite catch it very well." said Thyme in confusion.

"Me Sweet!"

Thyme scratched his head figuring out what she was trying to say. "Yeah okay whatever, I suppose a girl like you shouldn't be trusting a random stranger either. But I will need your help around here, will you help me?"

The girl nodded and smiled as she tilted her head cutely. As they shook hands, Thyme's stomach started to grumble. They both looked at his stomach, Thyme smiled wryly as the girl seemed more excited. The girl used her magic wand which left sparkling dust when shaken, she did it several times to create something out of the particles. Thyme could make out the shape resembling a small white fluffy sphere that she held in her left hand, then she offered it to Thyme.

Thyme took it hesitantly but later he smelt something out of it. "Hmm..this is..vanilla smell!" he said. He immediately examined it closely before decided that it was an edible food. He took a single bite and his cautious expression suddenly changed. "Hey..this is..sweet!"

Thyme thanked the girl for giving him what he needed the most at the time. After finishing his quick snack while the girl watched him, Thyme decided to call her Sweet. "Alright then Sweet, so did you see a girl about our size waltzed in here?"

Sweet shook her head, but then took Thyme's hand after seeing his long sigh. "Where are we going?" asked him. Sweet brought him down under the table, then they heard giant footstep noise. Thyme realised it was the giant butler from before looking from his shoes and pants.

"Thanks Sweet. I almost got myself caught up there." said Thyme.

Sweet didn't say anything but smiled at him. After the butler went away, Sweet dragged Thyme into another room. In this room, there was a small house made of cookies and candies. "Is this your house?" asked him.

Sweet nodded and brought him inside. "Wow..the smell and the look is very appetising. I've never imagined something like this before. But I have no time to play around, I need to look around for clues to return" said Thyme.

Sweet looked sad as she led Thyme out of her house. "Sorry about this after you fed me and all, but I'll definitely repay you some day. I promise I'll come back here after I finish with my business here." apologised Thyme.

Thyme climbed a desk to reach a big window above. He looked through the window to see if there was any clue to help his situation. It wasn't long until he saw the girl from before running outside the building away to the forest nearby. Thyme immediately set in to track her down. He got out of the building through an open window, jumped straight back into the courtyard pond. But then as he dove, Thyme heard another splashing sound right after he surfaced. He turned around and found Sweet was following him. He looked at her lonely face for a brief moment, then smiled,"Hmph..do whatever you like". Sweet's expression turned into a delightful smile then followed Thyme.

Thyme and Sweet went to the forest and started looking around for clues. "Listen Sweet, the girl is about your size, she wears lesser fluffier outfit than yours. She has long shoulder length hair…now wait a minute. I've seen that outfit somewhere before in the past but I can't remember where." said Thyme.

Sweet nodded and looked around for the girl as Thyme continued his explanations. Eventually, they came back to Thyme's landing site. They found the card holster and the brooch key lying on the grass. "Now..how do I do this when the key is five times bigger than me?" he pondered.

Thyme noticed someone hiding behind the card holster box. He called and the girl from before showed her face with a frightened expression. Suddenly Thyme recalled where he saw her outfit in the past after relating it with Clow Cards as he saw the cards popping out of the box. "Now I see.. I knew that I've seen your outfit somewhere before, you look exactly like The Big. Connecting the dots, you must be the opposite of big. Playtime's over, time to seal you in!" said Thyme.

"Key that holds the power of darkness! Reveal your true form! I, Thyme, under our pact command thee, Release!" he chanted.

"..."

"...okay, now what's wrong?! I can't even release the goddamn key! Does this mean I have to revert back before using it? Grrr..fine! Sweet, let's catch her!" yelled Thyme. The two jumped in to catch the girl. Eventually they caught her successfully, Sweet was holding the girl's arms as Thyme shook the girl's hand and said,"You'll join your big sister."

Thyme's body growed back as he took the brooch and the card holster. The two girls were looking up to his giant posture overshadowing them.

"Key that holds the power of darkness! Reveal your true form! I, Thyme, under our pact command thee, RELEASE! Return to your original form, Clow Card!"

Two cards appeared after both girls were absorbed into them, labelled The Sweet and The Little. "Now you won't be lonely anymore, Sweet. Both the other cards and I will always be with you..and thanks for the food" he smiled as he put both cards into his holster. "Hmph..now I need to find whether Helios had already found The Create's main body"

With his power returned, Thyme casted the Fly to sweep the area faster. He thought of stopping by the butler from the castle before to ask for more clues. He landed in front of the courtyard, but not as a small man anymore. He knocked at the door, then waited as he smirked at the dog that used to step on him before and gave it a deep glare. The dog whimpered and ran away as Thyme laughed in joy.

"Yes, who might you be, sire?" asked the butler as he greeted Thyme.

"Hi there, just wanna ask a question whether you saw a flying creature about this big, kinda dark bluish…" said Thyme as he described Helios' appearance.

"My apologies, sire. I have not witnessed such creature. There are various creatures around here, it is difficult to match your description."

"All good. Well then, I shall be off." said Thyme.

"Perhaps my lady the princess of this castle could help. Would you like me to prepare a tea for you inside while we wait?" offered the butler.

Thyme was tempted to the alternative option due to his sleepiness and exhaust, but rejected the offer,"Nah it's alright. I don't fancy meeting such beautiful princess. I'm just an alien in this world.". Thyme left the castle as the butler bid him farewell and closed the door. After walking away from the castle not too far, Thyme heard an echo of a loud roaring noise. The direction was from behind the castle he came from. He turned around and saw a giant flying creature flying toward the castle.

Upon a closer look, it looked like a reptile with wide membrane wings, almost looked like a dragon except it only had two legs. It had a shining dark blue scale and massive claws. The creature flew at very high speed and smashed the castle's sturdy walls with one single swoop as it landed on top of the now roofless castle. Thyme took his scepter immediately and casted Voice Move combo to prepare himself for combat. The creature hadn't noticed Thyme's presence yet so Thyme decided to observe it longer. The creature let out a deafening roar and then looked at below its feet where the castle interior was burned with its fire breath. Thyme clenched his teeth as he realised that the butler and the supposed princess were killed by the creature.

With his active Fly card, Thyme revealed himself in the air as he held the scepter high with a magic circle forming around him.

"I call upon the power of The Mist and The Sword. Mordant air, decay my enemies to death! Unite under my hand, dual-cast! The sword of the blight, Blade of Corrosion!" chanted Thyme as the he went for a jumping slash from high above. "Hyaaaaah!"

The creature noticed and flapped its giant wings to create air pressure around it that disrupt Thyme's momentum, but Thyme still managed to graze the outer scale of the creature. The scales which got slashed melted as the creature screeched in pain. The creature saw Thyme falling to the ground and immediately gave chase. Thyme saw the creature coming for him fast and casted Dash to keep the distance away. The creature threw a fireball out of its mouth ahead in the direction Thyme was fleeing. Thyme had to turn back and figure out other strategies. But then the creature opened its mouth slowly and spoke in a speech manner that Thyme knew the best.

"What are you...doing you fool?!" said the creature in a very deep and hard voice.

"H-Holy shit! Helios?! What happened to you?" replied Thyme as he dispelled the sword and stood before the giant creature.

"This is..my true form.." said Helios while he stuttered with each phrase.

"H-huh? What are you talking about? I haven't even gotten your key cards yet, all I met were The Sweet and The Little. You said yourself that your true form can only be attained once The Light and Dark cards are captured." asked Thyme.

"I don't know..myself. Ever since..we entered this airspace...my body reverted to my original form. Then...suddenly..you were gone too."

"Mm..well I wasn't exactly 'gone', my body got shrunk because I bumped with The Little in the air but your body grows bigger, so we kinda missed each other. By the way, why do you pause every mid sentence?"

"That's...your fault! The corrosion…aaagh!"

"Uhh...oops. Sorry about that Helios, I wouldn't hurt you if I knew it was you. I thought you were another part of The Create's body." apologised Thyme.

"You...will pay afterwards..Thyme." threatened Helios.

"For some reason, when you speak like that in that form, it's very intimidating. I'd rather you do it in your small form. Yeah I know..hehe my bad. I'll buy you ten cans of Royal Candycane when we get back."

Helios lifted his head, looked high up to the sky. "The Create, is not responsible of this world." he said.

"But it definitely reacts to The Erase like you said. What's happening here?"

"The Create….does not create…a global presence like this, as far as my memory serves, it only creates...animated objects...with focused presence, and they are unreal." explained Helios

"Indeed, the aura presence is very thick. It's almost as if the whole world is the main body. Then again some objects are definitely real. I mean I saw the dog and fought it. Hmm..this is confusing. Ah! What about the people you burnt there? Don't tell me they're real?!" said Thyme.

"No..all the humans...here...are not real..except you. I tore them..with my claws...and they..didn't bleed."

"Mm..good to know we are going somewhere with this clue. We need to solve this quick, I'm getting weaker as time goes by." suggested Thyme.

"Hop on my back, Thyme. I can travel faster in the sky." said Helios.

Helios lowered his body as Thyme climbed onto his back. Then he flapped his massive wide wings taking off the ground as gust of wind blew the trees away. Helios started to regenerate his wound as they travel.

"Remember this Thyme, my real power hasn't returned yet. My abilities remain the same as my previous form. So I deduce that The Create turned me into this form but couldn't recreate my original power" said Helios.

"Don't worry, I will dismount if any danger should approach us."

Thyme and Helios flew off to search for a more focused Clow Card presence. By combining their visions and magical awareness, they eliminated the possibilities to certainties and pinpointed one certain location.

Helios landed upon a volcano base, where there was an underground old ruin entrance. Thyme dismounted and looked around the surroundings. "This is definitely the place. The only problem is, your body is too big to fit inside." said Thyme while looking at Helios' huge body.

"How unfortunate. I am at my best form but still cannot do anything to help you. Looks like it's Cardcaptor Thyme is on solo mission once again."

"No big deal. Hasn't it always been this way?" replied Thyme while taking off his communicator earpiece and put it on Helios' head,"I'm using loudspeaker. I'll call you when I encounter anything inside."

"Thyme..just a sec. Deep inside the ruin could be the core of this planet, you might find other thing aside from The Create."

"I got you. Well then, I'm off!"

Thyme walked inside the ruin entrance stairs that led deep underground. As Thyme descended deeper, the temperature rose and the walls were burning hot. After reaching a long passage leading to a massive cave, Thyme could see lava flowing from the walls of the cave. He started to perspirate more and summoned The Freeze to stabilise his body temperature. He continued his expedition into the deep abyss and finally reached a place where the strong global presence and the focused presence of Clow Cards could be distinguished. Thyme was certain that the global presence came from the ground, but now as he is underground, he could feel that the ceiling produced the same aura. However, there was a more focused presence right in front of him. It was room with giant tall pillars and an altar at the end of the room. There was a pedestal in the middle of the altar, with a shining opened book on top of it.

A silhouette of a hand holding a quill pen was writing on the book pages. Thyme couldn't catch a glimpse of the person holding the pen, so he summoned The Firey to lit the torches around the room. There was the least expected figure which stunned Thyme as his eyes couldn't avert.

"Kaho..!" called Thyme.

Kaho smiled and said,"Did you enjoy your adventures up above, my young student?"

"So you're the one behind this! I demand you explain to me what's going on here."

"It's full moon outside. What do you think will happen if you capture all the Clow Cards?" she asked with a smile.

"I have no time for riddles! You've been using The Create to cause panic. I am here to stop you!" yelled Thyme while pointing his scepter at her.

"Such a shame. Your temper is as high as one boy's I know in the past." she closed the book and took out her bell chakram from her back.

"The Voice, The Move..I'm counting on you." said Thyme in a low voice as he casted Voice Move combo.

Kaho elegantly lifted the chakram bell in front of her facing Thyme,"I'm sorry, but this has to be done. Your time is running short."

"Then let's make this short. Arrow!" called Thyme as he summoned The Arrow to attack her from distance. Kaho didn't even move, rather pointed the chakram bell to the direction the arrows were coming. All the arrows were deflected as if they hit something in the air.

"Barrier, huh? I call forth The Power and The Fight. Let my fist shouts and shatters the realm, dual-cast! Absolute Strength!" chanted Thyme as he leaped in to break the barrier. A very loud impact sound deafened both Thyme and Kaho's ears, however Kaho maintained her posture and her barrier stood still. Moreover, it ignored Thyme's magic as if it didn't exist in the first place.

As Kaho's bell rang, one by one, Thyme's Clow Cards reverted to their card forms along with Thyme's scepter. "H-huh? What's happening here?" he thought.

"This tool has the ability to dispel all Clow magic. It is the weapon of the Moon Guardian Yue." she explained.

"...!" Thyme couldn't believe what just happened. "This is absurd! I can't use Clow Cards to fight her, heck even dual-cast doesn't work! How am I supposed to win?" he thought.

"Why are you so surprised? You, of all people, should know that only the true cardcaptor can overcome the moon's power." she said.

"!" Thyme was appalled after hearing Kaho's statement,"Y-You knew?"

"Hm I wonder what are you talking about?" asked Kaho playing dumb.

"We both know who are we referring to. Who are you, really? How did you know about that person?"

"I have travelled to various countries, Japan, Hong Kong, England. I have wide range of network and access to the secluded magical society's knowledge. Did you really think I would miss the connection between you and the rogue witch?"

"She is not a witch!" denied Thyme strongly.

"Do you want to know what kind of calamity that will happen if you don't collect all the cards?"

"Stop! Shut up! You're trying to manipulate me!" yelled Thyme as he wavered and reminiscing his past.

"Very well. I am not here to judge you on that. I am merely here to test your mettle. Let me tell you something, your Clow Book is the real deal. The Li claims are incorrect."

Thyme raised his head, mustering every courage he could. "I promise I will collect all the Clow Cards, for her sake, Helios' sake, this world's sake, and my own." he lowered his head staring directly at Kaho,"You can try to stop me, but I will not falter."

"Key that holds the power of darkness! Reveal your true form! I, Thyme, under our pact command thee, Release!"

"I told you it's useless.." interrupted Kaho as she rang the bell again. Thyme's brooch didn't transform, but Thyme used this opportunity to run away from the room. Kaho looked at him fleeing with a confused expression. Thyme immediately took his phone out to call his communicator attached to Helios outside.

"Helios I need your help! This Kaho woman sealed my power with some sort of a magical instrument." he said over the activated speaker phone as he described the tool's shape.

"What did you say? Did she use the Lunar Heaven's Shell of Judgment? That piece of weapon is created from a moonstone. It dispels magic, especially known for neutralising Clow's. Yue is the original owner of it, I don't know how she takes possession of it." replied Helios.

"Weaknesses?"

"Sadly, the only strategy is to get away from its sound radius where your magic will respond."

"That's more than enough. We shall play a very long distance combat." said Thyme as he hung up and ran toward the ruin exit. "RELEASE! Voice, Move, game on!"

"Silent, protect me! Now, the battle of wit begins. Shadow, Illusion, relay reconnaissance for me!" said Thyme as he hid himself to wait for an opportunity.

"That boy, he actually uses his brain to fight. I guess he is very different than our previous generation's cardcaptor." said Kaho as she focused her mind to locate Thyme. "There.." she yelled as she sensed a magical presence in the form of a shadow with an eyeball, then directed her bell chakram. The Illusion and The Shadow reverted back to their card form.

"Forgive me, Illusion, Shadow. I shall not waste your sacrifice. Now I know her exact location. I call forth the power of The Arrow and The Shot. May the guided arrow shines my path to victory, dual-cast! Searing sharpshooting ray, Luminous Bolt!" yelled Thyme as he released a beam of light at the wall to Kaho's position. "Through, clear our way!" he said right after the light was released. The beam went through the walls directly straight aimed at Kaho.

Caught by surprise, Kaho didn't see that the missile would be coming through the walls. Unprepared, Kaho quickly raised the bell to block the beam, but the impact was so strong that the barrier vibrated and Kaho pushed back. "Ahh..!" Regardless, Kaho remained unharmed.

"I can feel it, it's working! One more time, fire!" commanded Thyme. Another scream was heard, this time he could hear a thumping noise, signaling him to move in for the finisher.

"Hyaaaah!" he leaped forward with his sword high aimed at Kaho. Kaho immediately rang the bell again to dispel the magic, however now a thick fog covered the area as the magic being dispelled. "W-what's going on?" she wondered. She summoned a gust of wind to clear the fog, but then he saw two cards lying on the ground where she pointed her chakram before, labelled The Mirror and The Twins. Kaho quickly caught what happened, immediately turned over to the altar where The Create laid on. The book wasn't there anymore, rather behind the altar now appeared Thyme's figure, holding a card called The Create.

Kaho stood up after picking all the Clow Cards scattered around her. She walked toward Thyme and gave him all the cards back,"I wasn't expecting this to happen, but a win is a win. An elaborate bait, you had me completely fooled and lured me away from the book." she complemented.

"You were the one who taught me to cling to desperation power."

"Fair enough. Let me figure out how you manage to sneak up on me..Hmm..first you fired the light bolt through the walls to catch me off guard. Then you used The Dash to rush back to this room while firing the second bolt, making me believe that you will be coming from that wall's direction. You dual-casted The Mirror and The Twins to create your double, then you used The Maze to block yourself from my vision while your double distracting me. The Windy was summoned to fly the book closer to you while you conceal your own presence with The Lock. Finally when I was busy clearing the steam fog out of The Rain and The Firey's, you sealed the book." she explained.

"As expected of a Kinomoto, you truly are the member of the great sorceress' legion. Now I see why you even get to know that person." replied Thyme as he felt delighted having someone discussing his tactics.

"Great minds think alike. Even before becoming a Kinomoto, I was testing Sakura-chan too." she responded with a smile.

"I don't suppose you can join me in my remaining search?" he offered.

"Sadly, I have other things to attend to. Someone from overseas is waiting for me, so I don't have any spare time left."

"Hmph very well. Helios and I are capable enough to handle ourselves so far. I'll be on my way then." he said as he left the ruins.

"Hold on. Do you really think this is finished?" said Kaho while pointing to the ground.

"What do you mean?"

The ground started to rumble as the ruins collapsed. "Ergh, since The Create is sealed, the ruin is going down." said Thyme. "Not necessarily." replied Kaho.

"From now on, it's your own fight. I'll be watching you, and until we meet again at the Judgment Day" she said as she rang the bell to command mist covering her then she disappeared leaving her last remark,"Learn to use your willpower and not over relying on the cards."

Thyme wondered what did she mean, but prioritised his escape from the collapsing ruins and ground first. "Fly!" casted Thyme. He steered through falling bricks and narrow corridors, but then his exit was blocked by the rocks. Thyme looked around for another exit but he couldn't find it. Eventually one of the falling bricks toppled his balance and he fell down to the crevice of the cave. He could see himself that he was falling from the fantasy world to the real world. The fantasy world crumbled apart taking the trees, buildings, and mountains down. Thyme accidentally let go of his flying scepter due to the falling rocks. "Crap, I'm gonna die!"

Helios came to Thyme's rescue as he caught Thyme on his back. "Hey, how come you're not back to normal, I captured The Create already." said Thyme.

"Apparently there are some residues left inside my body. Other than that, where is that woman?" replied Helios.

"She left."

"Then whose presence is this? The global presence is still strong, coming from the core of the planet."

"!" Thyme realised that he could still feel the strong presence. If Kaho had already left and there was still a strong aura, he guessed that it belonged to someone else. "Could this be, another Clow Card?" asked Thyme.

"A Clow Card with this strong presence can only be…"

"An elemental card…"

"There is only one remaining elemental card…."

"The Earthy…"

A woman figure appeared from the holes between the collapsing rocks. "It's definitely her." confirmed Helios. "So she's one responsible of making the floating world.." continued Thyme.

"It's impossible to approach her with these obstacles in the way!" said Thyme.

"Regardless, we can't have her fall to the ground. Use The Through!" ordered Helios.

"And why is that?"

"If she ever connects with the earth, her power will amplify and even Woody cannot hold her. We must stop her while she's in midair."

"Point taken. Full speed ahead, Helios!" commanded Thyme as he stood on top of Helios' back. "The Through!"

However, The Earthy increased her weight so that she fell faster to the gravity. "Nooo we won't make it!"

The Earthy submerged into the soil and the ground started to shake. The crowd were panicked and ran away clearing the scene. "Thyme, we must fight her from the sky. If you ever land your foot on the ground, it's over for us! She has everything she needs to utilise her power. Make haste! We must capture her before The Create's power on me wears off, otherwise you will have to hang on The Fly."

"Yeah..I can't use the scepter while I have The Fly active." concurred Thyme,"Well then, let's start off with its weakness."

"If you had asked that Kaho Mizuki, she'd definitely suggest The Woody to trap Earthy. However, that rule only applies to the Mistress' former Clow Book. This one, to put it simply, more primitive in terms of rules. So Woody alone cannot defeat her." explained Helios.

"Let's give it a shot. I call upon the strength of The Woody and The Flower. Tangling thorns of the nature, set into bloom! Dual-cast, gardens of ivy vines, Strangleroots!"

Thyme summoned a growing plant deep rooted to the earth, consequently binding The Earthy's movement underground. "Hey it works!"

"Except now we can't flush her out to capture her. I'd suggest you wait for her to emerge, but meh it's done. Any other ideas?" said Helios.

"Heh..heh let me catch my breath first. I think I'm running out of time here." said Thyme while panting.

"!" Helios realised Thyme used something on his body,"Hey Thyme, what card did you use?"

"Huh?" Thyme played dumb but then realised that Helios figured it out,"I used The Time to accelerate my recovery and heartbeat rate."

"You...are committing suicide there!" yelled Helios.

"Spare me the lecture..heh heh otherwise I would've collapsed long time ago."

"Hmph..reckless as usual. I guess that's what you're made of." said Helios as he soared high.

"In the end, it's the result that matters." Thyme calmed himself as he breathed slower,"but I'm reaching my limit."

"Heh..limit, huh? Then I suggest you finish it in one single decisive strike." said Helios.

"Something just came in my mind. I want to try something, which I think will be the answer to this long night battle. Willpower.." mumbled Thyme.

"Another fancy trick, nice Thymeee!" cheered Helios.

"Say, if I believe that not only two cards can be summoned simultaneously." he said to himself while gathering his focus,"I will surpass my seniors and carve my own name as the first cardcaptor to summon three cards at once!"

Helios was a bit startled hearing Thyme's statement, but he didn't say any word. He believed in Thyme that he would stay by his side to the very end, even if he failed.

Thyme inhaled deeply then said,"I call forth the strength of The Thunder, The Storm and The Rain. Rumbling heavens, shatter the very earth!" he saw the three cards in front of him as the magic circle glowed brighter. "I can do this!" he kept telling himself in his mind. He closed his eyes and imagined a pattern that would connect the three cards. As dual-cast uses a circular pattern that connects the two cards, similar pattern must be used for three nodes connecting three cards. Lines connecting the three cards started to surfaced in Thyme's imagination, forming a triangle. Thyme opened his eyes as the cards were aligned in triangular nodes. "This ends now! Delta-cast, set the sky ablaze, Lightning Vortex!"

The darkened sky rumbled as heavy thunderstorm was summoned. Torrents of lightning stroke the surface and eventually creating a vortex around where The Woody entangled The Earthy. Thyme pulled The Woody out to avoid collateral damage beforehand. The thunders made shrieking sound as they surged the earth.

"Alright, time to seal it! Let's go in, Helios!" ordered Thyme.

"I got your back!"

Helios dove at full speed as Thyme summoned The Storm to form a barrier that protected them from the Lightning Vortex. They could see The Earthy had emerged from the ground. "Remember the rule, elemental card can only be beaten by elemental card!" warned Helios.

"I call upon the power of The Firey and The Sword. Unite under my hand, blazing steel of hell, smite my opponent! Dual-cast, flaming blades of rage, Flamberge!"

With one swift finishing slash, The Earthy was ready to be sealed. "Return to your original form, Clow Card!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield. Kaho was standing with a young man, about the same age as Thyme. He was carrying a broadsword on his back, wearing a strange robe outfit with a yin yang symbol in the center. "Three cards at once, first time I've ever seen. Impressive." he said in a mocking manner.

"He is my favourite. I foresee that he will even surpass Sakura-chan some day." said Kaho.

"You must be joking. No one can surpass Mistress Sakura nor Master Shaoran...not even Clow Reed himself." he replied.

"Ask your twin cousins, I'm sure they will endorse him as well." she replied.

"Hmph..I will be the judge of that"


	9. Chapter 8: Thyme and The Last Cards

Thyme woke up from the prophetic dream with the help of The Sleep and The Dream. He told Helios that his images were more clear and he could identify some of the mystery surrounding his dream. First off, he started with the location where he was. It was on top of a skyscraper building in the centre of the city. Then he described what the guy in front of him carried, one of them being the bell chakram that Kaho used. Finally, the disappearing Helios figure appeared as the giant wyvern who soared the moonlit sky.

"As you said, the future changes." said Helios after hearing the story.

"Which means we are just a step away from collecting all the Clow Cards."

It has been four months since the incident involving The Earthy. Thyme's body just recovered recently due to exhaustion and overburdening his organs. However, no matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find a trace or sign of the last cards. After counting the number of cards, Helios was certain that only two cards left, The Light and The Dark. Thyme, on the other hand, felt something was always strange ever since the incident. In order to confirm his hunch, Helios offered to do readings using Clow Cards.

"Okay...now close your eyes and place the cards in the following order. Five cards, top. One card, here…" instructed Helios.

Helios instructed Thyme to recite the spell, which invoked the magic circle as the magical readings being performed.

"Now open your eyes. Open the card one by one, I'll interpret the meanings to you." said Helios.

"The Cloud" said Thyme.

"Hmm..it appears that we don't have much clue yet of their whereabouts, but they know where we are."

"The Return"

"This has something to do with your past, memories, or old friends"

"The Mist"

"Hmm most odd combinations..Cloud Return and Mist. This means that the longer we wait, more dangerous they will be. However, the more we look for them, the more they will slip out of our hands."

"We still have more..let's see what this is..The Firey"

"Fourth card as The Firey. This has something to do with you. Something involving fire will happen to you and that will the starting point of everything."

"Not too clear, let's open the last one..The Mirror"

"..."

"What's wrong, Helios? What does it say?"

"Two sides in one. If we want to find them we need to go where you can see your own image in a place where light and darkness gather."

"Figures, another riddle. I guess we can't expect a straightforward answer from a foretelling." sighed Thyme,"Well I don't have time rummaging my thought with those right now. Have an exam in three hours."

Thyme headed out of his apartment to buy his lunch before going to the test. As Thyme was sitting in a cafe while reviewing his material with his tablet, a shadow casted upon him. Thyme could feel someone breathing above him and smelt the scent of rose perfume. He looked up to check but his face was brushing the person's hair. "Hi Thyme!"

"Mmmpfff…!" Thyme was caught in surprise and choked on his drink. He coughed then stood up.

"You guys!" Thyme said to Miaozi and Yuanzi. The Li sisters stood there carrying shopping bags.

"Why do you even need to study? I heard you got good marks." said Miaozi.

"Yeah yeah! I saw the ranking list, you were the top 5 of the university." continued Yuanzi.

"I was. Not until the Clow Cards business and you guys came into my life." replied Thyme as he coughed lightly,"Ahem, never mind that. What do you want?"

"We saw you over the glass and Yuanzi wanted to s…...humpph"

Yuanzi covered Miaozi's mouth with her hand as she smiled awkwardly,"Ehehehee…"

"So.." Thyme faced toward Yuanzi,"What do you want?"

Yuanzi's face blushed, she didn't answer Thyme's question but kept glancing between him and Miaozi. Thyme walked closer to see her face clearly, but Yuanzi immediately backed away while holding close to Miaozi.

Thyme sighed,"I guess since we're rivals we can't really share our information freely."

"There is nothing for me to share, though." replied Miaozi,"but she has"

"Stop it, Jie!" yelled Yuanzi as she attracted the attentions of people around them. She looked around then felt embarrassed,"Ahahaha...ha"

"Look if you just want to disturb my last moment before the exam, it's not going to work..bec-.."

"We don't have exams, we're exchange students." interrupted Miaozi.

"R-Regardless, if you don't need anything, please don't distract me…" said Thyme,"Oh hey, if you don't have anything to do, perhaps you could look for the last two cards, The Light and The Dark. Helios and I have been looking for them but couldn't find them. Of course, I'll be the one capturing them..heh. My techniques are much more better than the last time you saw me."

"Really? Do you honestly expect us to do charity work for you?" replied Miaozi coldly.

"Ssh..shut up Jie! Ah Thyme, it's not like that. We, I mean I, really want to help you but the thing is, we're not allowed to" replied Yuanzi.

"Thought so. It was worth a shot. Whoever finds them first will be the winner" said Thyme as he turned his back on them.

"W-wait..Thyme!"

"Don't even bother convincing me to hand over the other cards. Won't happen." said Thyme as he packed his stuff and went away.

Thyme walked to his examination venue and did the tests for half of the day. He got out as he saw the sun had already set. The sky was already dark, but the bright stars and a crescent moon illuminated the already bright city. "Now that's over, I don't have any work projects for the next month, time to hunt some cards!" he thought to himself as he stretched his body.

Thyme's phone suddenly rang,"Hello?"

"Thymey! I need your help, where are you now?" said someone over the line.

"Hey boss, I'm not on any project right now. Not working. By the way, whose phone are you using?"

"Very critical, Thymey! I forgot my phone and all my papers in the studio. I'm on my way for a meeting with client" said Teo.

Thyme sighed,"This late? Not my business but let me guess, you want me to pick them up and deliver to your location"

"Nah, I knew you were busy with your exams. I already told Yuanzi to fetch them for me, she's the one who told me you were busy."

"Huh..so? Why are you calling me then?"

"Well, the problem is..she is already there but I haven't gotten her a key to my office yet. I remember that you live the closest to the studio, so could you open my office? Don't worry, after that you can go home."

"Well, why haven't you gotten her the key yet? She's been with us for a while already" Thyme sighed,"Fine, I'll open it for her. On one condition, stop calling me Thymey!"

"Thanks Thymey..I mean Thyme. I'll give you bonus later." said Teo as he hung up.

Thyme turned back to head toward the studio. There he entered the building and found Yuanzi sitting at his usual desk, drawing something on the paper. "Hey..what're you doing there?" asked Thyme as he was curious what Yuanzi was doing on his desk. Yuanzi quickly flipped the paper down,"N-Nothing!"

"Anyway, come" said Thyme as he walked to Teo's office door. Yuanzi hid the paper inside her locker and locked it before following him.

Thyme unlocked the door and opened it wide to let Yuanzi in. "Be quick, I'm tired" he said.

Yuanzi nodded and she started looking for the items. A moment later, Thyme looked back in to check because she was taking her time inside. "Alright, I don't have all night for this...uh hey!"

Yuanzi was stacking boxes as she climbed them to reach a suitcase on top of a wall shelf. He couldn't imagine Teo put the thing so high even he himself couldn't have reached it. "What was he thinking?!" thought Thyme.

Thyme came inside and said,"You know, if you use magic, you can easily grab the bag...like this. RELEASE! Move!"

"I know, I just want you to come inside" she replied.

Thyme handed the suitcase over to Yuanzi. "What is she thinking?!" thought Thyme as he could never guess her attitudes that changed dramatically every time he met her.

"Not exactly my problem, but my business here is done. Get out so I can lock the door again." ordered Thyme.

"I said wait!" she suddenly raised her voice while holding Thyme's hand.

Thyme stopped as he looked back at his hand being held. He felt something out of her hands, warmness, fear, and insecurity. "I knew you have something on me. Ready to talk this time?"

Yuanzi nodded as she lowered her head, hiding her face. She didn't let Thyme's hand go even after Thyme said that. "You sure are weird" continued Thyme.

"You know, about this morning, I'm sorry I can't let you know because my sister was there." she said while still lowering her head and hiding her face.

"Something I shouldn't know, eh? Must be a classified Clow Card info"

"I'm not really allowed to say this, but I really really can't help you this time. It's...complicated."

"I wasn't serious. Do you really want to give up the chance to step on me above the two last cards? I don't think so. You guys were aiming for my Clow Cards anyway."

"Nooooooooo!" she screamed loudly almost as if she was in pain. Thyme startled and tried to shake her hands off him, but her grip was tightened. "Not so loud you idiot! You want the security to accuse me of molesting you?!"

Yuanzi finally lifted her face, that was full of tears out of her eyes. "Nuhh..alright, what did I do this time?" asked Thyme in panic.

The moonlight shone upon the room through the giant glass windows in Teo's office. The view of the city light was clear from above, so was the view of the big crescent moon. Yuanzi's tears sparkled as the moonlight entered the water particle, reflecting Thyme's image in her eyes.

Yuanzi took something out of her purse bag with her left hand while her right hand still holding Thyme. She handed it over to Thyme. "T-This is..Clow Card!"

"The Watery" read Thyme as he saw the fateful card right in front of his face.

"I can give it to you right now if I wanted to" said Yuanzi.

Thyme, as ruthless as he could be, still couldn't take the card off her hand despite the fact that she was defenseless and the card was right in front of him. He could feel his heart beating fast, nervously tried to hold her right hand. Thyme could feel her very soft skin, it looked very pale, especially under the moonlight. Her muscle was lean, her bone was small, almost as if her body would break even with the slightest force such as Thyme's strength. Thyme slowly touched her hand as he thought,"I never thought she is this fragile up close"

"But I won't. I can't. Don't judge me for this.." she embraced Thyme tightly. Even after using all her strength, Thyme felt he could still break away. Her hands reached Thyme's hip as she slid down to his card holster on his belt in the back. Thyme sensed it and broke away immediately. Yuanzi struggled, causing the box hanger to snap and the box ended up in her hand.

"I-I.." stuttered Yuanzi.

"How foolish of me." Thyme set a sharp gaze on her,"I let my guard down at the most important time. I wouldn't ask it back since I already knew the answer. Helios was right. You were just waiting for the very precise moment when I was at my weakest and I fell for it."

"No..it's not…" said Yuanzi as she cried.

"I take it that you finally show your true colours"

"Please, don't do this, Thyme!"

"We're not destined to be allies. You and I, we seek the same thing. There's only one answer to determine the victor." said Thyme as he backed away preparing a fighting stance.

"If only, I was not born as a Li…" she snobbed.

Thyme saw that Yuanzi let her guard down for a moment, he dashed in and extended his right arm toward her left hand holding the card box. Yuanzi's reflexes flicked her body away from him, however some of the cards were falling to the ground. Thyme quickly took out his brooch,"RELEASE!"

"Ah…"

Yuanzi picked up most of the cards, but Thyme could recover three cards at most. Thyme could see that Yuanzi didn't have her sword so he was confident that Yuanzi couldn't use magic. Glancing quickly at his three cards, Thyme formulated his strategy in his mind.

"The Sweet, The Create, and The Sword..not exactly a good combination. Not even a viable dual-casting combo. But this will do.." he thought then threw one of the cards in the air as he summoned the magic circle.

"Cards made by Clow, lend me the blade that will cut through my path, Sword!"

"You're unarmed, I hate to fight unarmed opponent. Yield now!" said Thyme as he pointed the sword at Yuanzi. Yuanzi didn't react to his words, instead she gazed deeply at Thyme then said,"The second time you pointed a sword at me, it hurts"

"Hmph..words are meaningless now. En garde!" yelled Thyme as he lunged forward.

"I-I..I won't let this happen, even if it means hurting you in the process!" she replied as loud. Yuanzi hung the box on her left pocket, then extended her right arm, pointing a fist and her left hand close to her chest. She stretched her legs and bent her left leg forward.

Yuanzi stopped Thyme's sword with her small bare hands before it touched her body. "Impossible!"

Thyme had put in quite a force and momentum into that lunge, but was stopped like it was nothing. "She wasn't this strong when I first fought her, dammit!" thought Thyme as he tried to release the sword from her grip. Then he saw something shining from inside her clothes. "Clow Card activation without a wand?!"

Bending her hands, Yuanzi twisted her body and the momentum threw Thyme off guard and eventually he let go of his sword. "Gahhh.. I remember..this is..The Power!"

Without the sword, Thyme was out of options because unlike Yuanzi, he couldn't cast magic without the scepter. "I don't like fistfighting against a girl, but I don't have much choice here.." he said as he clutched both hands. "Yaaaah!" yelled Thyme as he launched a quick blow with his right fist.

Yuanzi stopped it with only her little palm, then jumped to kick both Thyme's arm and left leg. "Ugh!" Thyme stumbled as his balance wavered. Yuanzi opened her palms and stroke Thyme on the side of his neck with a finger chop.

Thyme retaliated with his remaining strength to push her away and jumped high while lifting his right leg, preparing a jump kick. Again, Yuanzi caught his leg in mid air and pushed it downward to make him fall hard. "Urrrgh!"

"I'm sorry!" she said while running away from the building.

Thyme tried to give a chase but his wound delayed him. "Ugh.." he stood up slowly and took his phone out. "Yes Thyme, why aren't you home yet? I thought we're gonna discuss the investigation on the…-"

"Helios, we got big problem here! The younger Li sister got my cards...ughh.." he said through the earpiece.

"..."

"Hello? Helios? You there?!"

"YOU WHAT?!"

Thyme had expected the outburst so he lowered the volume beforehand. "This is no time for us to argue..we need to plan our next move". Thyme told Helios everything that happened, except the emotional scene part.

"You didn't believe me, that's why this happened. I told you long time ago, don't believe those sisters. I am your only ally, the one who got you into this mess and the one who will get you out as well." Helios sighed,"I don't even know what to do…"

"...I'm sorry..but this is truly not the right moment for lectures. As we are talking, she's getting farther."

"I suppose there's nothing I can do from my end, you got yourself into the situation, you should know the best way to get out of it."

"Wait hold on Helios, don't hang up yet! I'll need some inputs on your thoughts on my theory. Standby over the communicator as I track her down, I'll put the earpiece on." said Thyme as he set his communication protocol then followed Yuanzi's trail.

"Hmm..most interesting. The card activated by itself, almost as if it was still on loose. And you wrote your name on it as well. In theory, this shouldn't happen." explained Helios as Thyme shared his guess on the recent event.

"You sound like there's another way this could happen.."

"Remember Kaho Mizuki, the woman you met last time? She carries the Moon Guardian relic that can override Clow Card's power. There's a possibility that there's a relic that can do the opposite."

"You don't suggest...the relic acts as a proper wand? As in, a substitute key?"

"Exactly my point. But if that relic is here, then that person should be close by."

"Like who? Yue?"

"Not him..his relic is the Judgment Shell. I really have no idea, why don't you ask that woman? I thought you had her contact back then"

"Alright, standby Helios. I'm putting you on observer mode" Thyme stopped for a moment to establish another call. "Hello, This is Kinomoto"

"Hi, it's Thyme. Mind if I disturb in the middle of the night?"

"Oh hi, Cardcaptor-san. Not at all, I was expecting you to call anyway"

"...don't creep me out. Okay listen, excuse my informalities but this is an emergency situation"

"Hehe..I trust you have questions for me. Fire away, Cardcaptor-san"

"...one day I will regret exchanging our contact details.. Anyway, I'll just get to the point. Do you happen to know if there's a guardian relic like the one that you used, what's it called.. the Lunar Shell something with the bells. Is there something like that with an opposite effect?"

"I know what you are looking for. It's not a relic, but rather a charm. Belongs to Moon Guardian as well"

"Yue"

"Not Yue-san, but the other Moon Guardian"

"What do you mean 'the other'?"

"This will take long to explain, but if you want the condensed version..it belongs to the Moon Guardian of Eriol Hiiragizawa, Ruby Moon"

"You've gotta be kidding me..Mistress Sakura's Yue is already in my proximity and now Grandmaster Eriol's guardian is targeting me too?"

"Oh, you knew Eriol-kun?"

"Who doesn't? Half reincarnation of Clow Reed, hell even Helios worshipped him like the real Clow. He's the mastermind behind Mistress Sakura's ascension, I should've suspected much"

"Wow, your guardian must've told you lots of our past tales. Surely he knew a lot about my past too"

"Yeah, well we can arrange a tea time for that matter. Back to my problem at hand, if you please"

"Hmm..well okay, the charm is not permanent and should be embedded to something, like an item. This item contains magical storage that stores the charm. If you could snatch it away, then destroying the item should disrupt the circuit flow inside and eventually dispels the charm."

"Understood. Thanks for the info, I'm hanging up" said Thyme.

"Good luck out there, Cardcaptor-san. Please be careful playing with fire"

Thyme switched the call back to Helios and explained what she had said and also mentioned that somehow she knew everything that happened and read his mind. Helios warned him to also keep distance with Kaho.

Thyme found himself drifting further out of the city inside the woods. He realised that looking for a person inside a dark woods would be much more difficult, but he was already inside, so he thought he might just finish the job. With no source of light, he continued striding inside the woods with only his sense of tracking Clow Card presence as his compass.

Eventually he saw a glimpse of light and decided to pursue it. He got out of the woods and found a vast lake in front of him, where the source of light was coming from. He saw the reflection of the bright moon on the lake's surface and in the dark sky. He was impressed that the moon would look enormous from that location. Coming to his senses, Thyme detected a faint Clow Card presence in the area, but couldn't pinpoint the exact location. Strong breeze brushed his hair and suddenly everything went dark.

"H-huh..? What happened? My eyes..I can't see a thing" he said,"Li Yuanzi! If this is one of your tricks, I will find you eventually!"

No one answered. Thyme couldn't even see his own body. It was almost like his whole vision was shut down, but he could still hear, breathe, and move his body. "Could this be The Shadow's work?" he thought.

Thyme opened up the channel back to Helios,"Helios,I can't see anything as soon as I followed a trace of Clow Card"

"Thyme...it has started" replied Helios in a serious tone.

"What is?"

"I can sense it. You are facing The Dark as we speak now"

"How did you know? You're not even here.."

"It doesn't take long to figure out what's going on. Everyone's gone, I took a glance outside the window and everything is swallowed by darkness" explained Helios.

"The Dark...don't tell me The Dark has been right in front of our eyes this whole time?!"

"Yes. I'm afraid if you don't hurry, everything will eventually vanish. Lost in darkness"

"Then why does it only activate now? When I'm around the woods and a lake?"

"!" Helios gasped as something came in his mind,"I see, now I get it. It activates because you are going away from its boundaries"

"What boundaries? I've been in the city the whole time I capture ca-…." Thyme paused for a moment as he realised what Helios was trying to say,"Now wait a minute! You said that I stepped out of its boundaries, which means that if I get out of the city, then The Dark activates! The Dark, is the city itself!"

"Indeed. I have been fooled too. The Dark is actually right in front of us this whole time but we couldn't see it. But at least we can safely say that the first and third prophecies are fulfilled"

"Alright, let's go with our M.O. Weakness?" asked Thyme.

"Ordinary light such as The Glow and The Firey won't suffice. It can only be defeated by The Light, its counterpart. But never mind that, you only have three cards right now, it's not even worth mentioning any method"

"...you sound very calm for someone who's about to be swallowed into darkness" said Thyme.

"Now tell me, Thyme. Is there anything you can do right now? I say NO! You lost almost all of your cards and now fighting the strongest Clow Card, already trapped inside without me at your side! Yes we failed to detect The Dark, but you failed to fulfill your duty as a Cardcaptor! Your negligence brought this upon yourself. I can only wait and see what will the calamity brought us to"

"Despair..Helios, you can't abandon what we have achieved so far. We're too close to back out now! Come on..let's do this together!" said Thyme in desperation.

"I'm sorry Thyme, but I'm just a guardian. I keep on warning you, but you got ahead of yourself. The cycle repeats. Same with what happened to the witch girl"

"Helios, I know she was the one responsible for the scattered Clow Cards and me being Cardcaptor, but she has been….-!" Thyme paused as he saw someone inside the dark space, someone that was in the conversation just now. "W-W-WHY are you here?!"

It was a figure of a girl, about the same age as Thyme, wearing a dress covered with a robe decorated with sun and moon embroidery. She wore a pointed hat, covering her long silky brown hair. She was holding a scepter, the very same to what Thyme was using.

"Thyme, your voice is missing too. I guess the second phase has gotten into you, losing your other senses. I doubt you could even hear me right now" said Helios in disappointment.

It was just as Helios predicted, The Dark stripped Thyme's vision and now, his speaking and hearing ability. He could barely speak or listen the last words from Helios. The only thing left for him were his sense of touch and ability to think. In front of him, the girl stood still. Thyme was still surprised that he was seeing the most unexpected person.

On the other side, Helios hung the phone up as he thought there was no point talking to the deaf and mute Thyme. He glanced at the dark sky, released his power to create a source of light coming from his body, then flew outside. "I think the second prophecy is about to kick in. I can't do anything, but I'll see this to the end" he said as he set his destination toward Thyme's location.

Meanwhile, on Thyme's side, he was trying and simulating all possibilities in his head in order to escape The Dark. "Think, think..come on Thyme!" he kept saying to himself, even though he couldn't speak. The girl in front of him, walking slowly toward him. She raised her scepter toward him, and suddenly Thyme regained his speech ability.

"M-M-Mel…" said Thyme while stuttering.

"Look how you've grown" said the girl called Mel.

Thyme could hear what she said as he regained his listening ability. "What's happening here? I can't see my own body but I can see you with bright and vivid image. You...were supposed to be dead!"

"Hmm..isn't that a bit cruel to say? After I entrusted you with the book, you should be grateful" replied Mel with a stern look.

"No..you're just my illusion. You're not real. You're dead! This is The Dark's trick to erase my sanity" said Thyme in denial.

"... Look here, Thyme. Initially you didn't want to become a Cardcaptor, but now you seem more eager than ever to collect all the cards. Why is that?"

"That is none of your business, undead! Begone from my sight!" cursed Thyme.

"Stubborn as ever. Remember the first time we met, you were condemning me of using magic. And now look how you've become. What are you trying to achieve by capturing all the cards?"

"To avoid calamity to this world, such as you!" yelled Thyme.

"Na-na.." she waved her hand and shook her head,"The calamity is nothing more than an excuse. I can read your heart like a book, Thyme. How long do you think I've known you? It was originally my responsibility to capture the cards after all"

"Now I'm convinced you're not real! You were the one who scattered the cards, then left me with your dirty work!" denied Thyme.

"That is what you saw.."

"What I saw is the truth!" said Thyme.

"Alright, so be it then. Now, if I say I will relieve you of your Cardcaptor responsibilities so that you can return to your former life, what say you?" she grinned,"It's a nice offer to break free of this darkness and forget all the life endangering situations"

"...Mel.. Are you saying I can break free if I give up being a Cardcaptor?"

"Yes of course, Thyme. Being involved in magic causes you undue fear and unnecessary stress. You will forget everything that happened between you and The Clow"

"Then what'll happen to all the people in the dark?"

"The dark will be kept in the dark. They won't realise that they were inside the dark, same goes for you too"

"Are you suggesting...that we let The Dark trap all these people inside the veil of deceit?" said Thyme.

"Ignorance is bliss, Thyme. By knowing nothing, you will be less burdened and easily gain happiness"

"There is no happiness in submission! If you are the real Mel, you'd never give up!" yelled Thyme.

"I won't, but you will. There's no reason for you to continue, let me handle this. Just like the old times"

Thyme sensed something was off, he decided to prove his doubt by asking her identity, but she answered all correctly. He couldn't find a loophole to poke the truth out of her. Realising that he couldn't fight this with power nor Clow Cards, he decided to engage in battle of wits. His suspicions toward the Mel in front of him was backed by his logical and conclusive reasoning, thus he still couldn't buy the fact that the Mel in front of him was the real Mel.

Thyme collected all the facts in his mind and started looking for the truth as he thought,

_"Let's review everything so far. Something is definitely off here, if I can find even the smallest contradiction, that could be my only way out. First fact, Mel is already dead. Now why do I come to that conclusion? I kept on denying her because of that, but it seems that all I have are my version of the story, this could be biased. I can't approach it from this angle, right let's look at the second fact. She knows everything about her identity, it means it cannot be a copy or an illusion. Third fact, although her identity is proved, her personality seems different. There's a gap here.."_

A voice echoed in Thyme's mind as he was indulged in his deduction thinking,"Seek out the present, do not dwell in the past"

It was a woman's voice, not Kaho nor Mel's, a voice Thyme didn't recognise. He tried replying in his mind,"Who are you? Why are you inside my mind?"

"Don't worry, everything will be alright!" she said in a cheery voice. Afterwards, the voice is nowhere to be heard. Thyme tried to communicate again with her but to no avail.

"The present, and the past..what does she mean?" thought Thyme,"Hmm..it's another angle to work on, perhaps I should try this one"

Thyme tried to stall Mel by engaging meaningless conversation as he continued his puzzle solving in his head,

_"The past and present, where do they differ? I need to piece everything that happened between past and present. Mel, Mel, first time I met her, that should be my starting point! Okay let's do this carefully. Mel believes that The Clow book is her responsibility because...no wait! She'll deny it assuming that was only what I saw. Hmm..she knows everything that I know, plus more. I can't base my arguments on past events."_

"No matter what are you up to, I can read everything inside your head, Thyme" said Mel as she prompted an answer from him.

"I need you to answer me first. Have you found out the history of this Clow Book we're using?" asked Thyme.

"If that will make you submit, then I'll speak. Of course I do, I know that our Clow Book is a fake"

Thyme heard something very interesting just then. He realised that he was getting closer to the missing piece.

_"W-What did she just say? The Clow Book is a fake! This is very interesting, how did she know that? Even I didn't know when we parted ways. Heh..heheheh..I think I might just about to uncover her real identity!"_

"Why are you laughing by yourself? You've known that fact for a while now.." said Mel.

"Heheh..exactly! I just knew it recently myself, how did you come by the information? The Mel I know, she truly believed that her book is legitimate. Let's just make this quick, you said that because you only believe what you saw. In other words, you're just part of The Dark. You know because when the information was revealed, you were right beneath us observing closely as you concealed yourself as the city's entity"

"You're deluding, Thyme. I know because that's what you know as well. After all, I could get the information anywhere, network channels, research…" replied Mel.

"Still in denial, eh? You're not the real Mel. I just figured it out. The second prophecy, The Return. Helios said it involves someone from my memories or past, looks like it's been fulfilled. You accessed my memory and observed all my actions so far, then assumed the form of the most memorable person in my memory, but there's a hole that you cannot cover. I found the missing piece to your deception" said Thyme who regained his courage and determination to end the trial.

"...Stop acting tough, you don't know what you're talking about"

"Dark, if this answers your expectations, then I command you to end all this farce!" declared Thyme in a shout.

Thyme chuckled,"If you truly can read my mind, then you should know that I think my Clow Book is a real deal"

"That's nonsense..I checked it.."

"The fact doesn't matter right now, what matters now is proving your contradiction.." replied Thyme.

"There's no way I'd miss that.."

"Oh but I think there is. A short moment where you weren't able to see what was going on in the city where you've been lurking". Thyme glared at her intensely,"The moment where Earthy was captured. Kaho told me something interesting, that couldn't have been heard by you. Now why is that? Because….her relic dispels all Clow magic, not even The Dark could slip inside"

"...Splendid" Mel transformed into a lady with a black long hair wearing black frilly dress with a circlet on top of her head. Her voice also changed as she talked,"I thought I had you cornered"

"Heh..I must admit you almost got me. Now it's time to return to your original form, Clow Card!"

"I must decline" said The Dark.

"What?" blurted Thyme. Suddenly the darkness faded as The Dark absorbed all of it, condensed inside the tall woman's figure floating above the lake. "T-T-Thyme!" said Helios through the earpiece.

"Oh, it's finally reconnected. Helios, I've managed to find The Dark. But she refuses to be sealed" replied Thyme.

"I hope you remember your lesson this time, Thyme. You..are always reckless but prevail in the end, I don't know whether I should be glad about it. Now carry on and I'll be there soon"

"Hmph..I know what to do" said Thyme as he was reminded of Helios' words before which said that only light can balance darkness. "The Light must be somewhere nearby"

Thyme looked around carefully, only dark trees and black surfaced water. But then, his eyes were directed to the big moon above the lake which was the only light source. "Light, huh?" he murmured. Then Thyme grinned, as if he had something up his sleeve.

Thyme quickly directed his eyes upon the surface of the lake, particularly where the moonlight was reflected. There he saw the mirror image of The Dark, except the girl on the mirror side, was white haired and wearing white outfit. Her tiara had a different colour, and she shone brightly.

Thyme closed his eyes, breathed slowly, then raised his scepter and pointed it toward the center between The Dark and the water's surface, then said,"I will repeat my command. Return to your original form, The Dark and The Light, Clow Card!"

The Dark and The Light were absorbed slowly as they left their last remarks,"You truly are worthy to be our master. We are two as one, I am The Light, I am The Dark; we will accompany you through the Final Judgment"

Two cards appeared in front of the scepter. Thyme took them and looked at them carefully while saying,"If it weren't for that voice inside my head, and Kaho's actions, I wouldn't have captured them"

A voice from above startled Thyme,"Heyy..Thyme! Finally found you"

"Helios, you showed up at the worst time. Hmph..look!" said Thyme smugly as he shoved The Light and The Dark card in front of Helios.

Helios crossed his hands then slowly smiled,"Hoh hoh..I've been waiting forever for this!"

Helios' wing grew as magic circle appeared below him, then the wings enveloped him as bright rays of light penetrated the dark woods and sky. The light was too bright that Thyme had to cover his eyes,"Is this, the true transformation?!"

After a while, the wings slowly opened and spread. From inside the shadow, glowing red eyes were visible as Helios flapped both of his wings at once, causing gust of wind swaying nearby trees. This was the second time Thyme saw Helios' true form, but he still couldn't help but admire the great wyvern's figure. Helios landed both his feet as he turned toward Thyme then said in his heavy voice,"This is what I call...freedom!"

"H-Helios…" said Thyme who was still in awe. He stared at the magnificent and majestic form of the formerly annoying plush toy that constantly cries and very emotional. He imagined that he had to fight this giant creature during what he thought to be Final Judgment.

"With this form, I can get all the cards back from those Li thieves! Ha ha ha!" said Helios with a very sadistic laugh.

"C-Control yourself, Helios! They're just human, they will be no match for you anyway.." said Thyme hesitantly.

"I, am Helios, Beast Guardian of Ubiquitous. Ha ha ha ha! Thyme, I must thank you for all you've done. Now, I have the power to help you retrieve the cards you lost. No, let me rephrase that, I said let me handle everything from now on!"

"Helios..just what kind of power do you have?" asked Thyme while slightly cowering in fear before the great wyvern.

"You'll see. I intend to use it against the pests that are approaching us"

"Pests? But there's no one here. I don't even sense any Clow Card presence.."

Helios made a gesture with his head trying to show Thyme that there were two human figures floating upon the moonlight. Thyme recognised one of the figure in his dream because he was together with a woman with winged star staff and a winged four legged beast. As they drew closer, Thyme could see clearly. On the left, a man with pearly blue eyes, pale skin, long silver hair. On the other side, a woman with giant butterfly wings, pale skin, a crimson dark red long hair.

"It's not Clow Card's presence, it's….moon presence..similar to Kaho's presence" mumbled Thyme.

"Hop on Thyme. Let's greet our unwelcomed visitors!"

"Huh?" Thyme was startled by Helios' sudden voice. It appeared that Thyme was still not prepared mentally. "You don't have Fly card, do you? Now hop on my back, quick!" ordered Helios.

Helios flapped his massive wings as he departed upon the ground approaching the two floating figures.

"So..this is the notorious Guardian of Ubiquitous? What an unsightly figure. How could Clow Reed created something as ugly as this?" said the man.

"I was expecting him to be like Suppi, he looks different on so many levels" continued the woman.

"Yue..this is the first time we meet in person. And you too, Ruby Moon" said Helios.

"..this is the legendary moon guardian Yue and Ruby?! Careful, Helios, I sensed tremendous energy coming from both of them" said Thyme as he observed the two carefully.

"They sent us here just to meet this abomination and an excuse of a Cardcaptor? This is not worth my time, let's just get this over with, Ruby" said Yue glancing at Ruby.

"Uhh..but he doesn't even have a full set of cards, he only carries 5 cards" replied Ruby.

"More of a reason to erase them both" said Yue coldly.

"Hmph..now listen here, you pets! You've been insulting us to no end, just what do you want from us?!" blurted Thyme.

"Pets, you say? Heh.. what's so different than that monster over there?" Yue pointed at Helios.

"I've heard enough, Thyme. He is the opposite of Cerberus, don't expect him to be gentle" replied Helios.

"We are here to stop you from delivering Final Judgment. The book should be destroyed without trace, that is our order" said Ruby.

"Whose order is that?!"

"My master, Eriol. Obviously Yue will also listen to everything he says"

"..." Yue didn't respond to Ruby's claim.

"Well too bad, folks, I'm not the judge for his Final Judgment!" replied Helios.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"Helios, she's right, weren't you supposed to be my judge?" added Thyme.

"I never recall anything about it. Clow Reed never told me to. Nothing at all. Well, since there's no Final Judgment to deliver, your travel here is pointless. Go home to your masters!" said Helios.

"Do you think you can make a mockery of us?! Every cardcaptor should be judged upon completion of their set. The ritual shall be upheld, even though the rebellious guardian refuses to. As a legitimate Guardian of Moon, I invoke the right to deliver Final Judgment to this puny human!" answered Yue while pointing at Thyme.

"Y-Yue..is this alright? We...were supposed to stop them, not to help them do it" interrupted Ruby.

"Don't make me laugh. Sakura dan Clow would be disgusted to see this lowest form of disgrace! Do you accept my challenge, Cardcaptor?!" taunted Yue.

"Helios.." called Thyme.

"You're obviously no match for them, especially with just 5 cards. You'll definitely fail the trial. It's suicide, Thyme" replied Helios.

"B-But then if I don't accept it, the cards will be scattered once more"

"He can't do it. Most of the cards are not even in your hands right now. But still, his calamity punishment is a troublesome one. From what I've heard from Cerberus, he'll make everyone erases your existence"

"Yeah, I've heard that part as well. It's not nice being ignored by everyone. Solitude is a slow and painful death. Well then, what are we gonna do?"

"I have a plan, but we need to rely on each other. I know I've been an ass the whole time, but now since I got my power back, it shouldn't be any problem...listen closely….-" said Helios as he explained his plans quietly.

"Your answer? I don't have an eternity to wait" prompted Yue.

After a brief moment of silence, Thyme and Helios readied themselves in front of Yue and Ruby. "This is messed up..I guess I'll just watch from the side" said Ruby as she stepped out.

As soon as Ruby was out of the picture, Helios quickly flapped his wings to create massive turbulence. Thyme threw one of his card in the air and yelled,"Cards made by Clow, veil this world into the dark abyss, The Dark!"

"Attacking me with a card that is in my direct jurisdiction, how foolish" said Yue.

Although Yue and Ruby weren't affected, the environments were still affected. The bright moon was covered with a dark curtain.

"Where are you aiming, fool?" taunted Yue.

As the moon was covered, the sky became pitch black, then Yue and Ruby realised what Thyme and Helios were aiming for. Ruby gasped,"This is..an eclipse effect!"

Eventually Yue, with his authority over The Dark, reversed the eclipse and once again the moon shone bright in the night sky. However the situation had changed, Thyme was nowhere to be found!


	10. Chapter 9: Final Judgment (Part 1)

The gallant form of Helios floated upon the two guardians of moon, Yue and Ruby. Helios roared so loud that the echoes shook the ground, however Yue and Ruby weren't faltered. Yue held his anger so much it didn't show on his face, but a cold, glaring blue eyes.

"Ruby, get the kid" ordered Yue.

"Hey! I'm not taking orders from you!" replied Ruby.

Yue raised his right palm and pointed it toward her as it glowed bright. Ruby noticed his mood and then departed from the scene,"Ugh fine!"

"Now..what should I do with you, fake guardian?" asked Yue to Helios.

"You keep calling me that, whoever feeds you that information is probably the same idiot as the one who feeds information to the Li sisters. Heh, not that I care, I'll prove it to you, that I'm not a fake" replied Helios.

"How? By begging to my knee?"

"We know how.." said Helios in a low tone as he gaze sharply at Yue, then roared again.

"You will try" said Yue as he flew higher to invoke his power. Using his hands, he summoned icicle shards and launched them toward Helios. Helios erected a barrier as he deflected the shards by covering his body with his wings. However, as Helios slowly opened his wings, Yue was already in front of his eyes. Yue swung his hand in upward motion, it almost hit Helios' body. Helios flew back due to his reflex movement, but then he saw that even though the hand didn't hit it still cut deep into his scales. "Air blade?!" he thought.

"That's right, Yue's power feeds on The Watery and The Windy" thought Helios as he turned around to shoot fireballs out of his mouth. Yue erected a water shield to extinguish the fireballs while taunting Helios,"It's useless"

Helios accelerated at full speed while readying his claws as Yue didn't move. With a swift manoeuvre, Yue dodged it and land himself a quick air slash toward Helios' damaged scale. Helios wailed as he felt the pain.

"Weakling.." taunted Yue.

Helios regained his composure, nervously putting up a strong stance. "You're even weaker than a human, and you call yourself a guardian? Clow must be sleeping when he created you" continued Yue,"I'll end your pathetic existence"

"Hmph..be patient, my power are slowly coming back" said Helios as he stretched his wings as wide as he could. His body started to give similar glow to Yue's, but with a different aura colour. Slowly, Helios' right wing turned white, the membrane wing turned into feathered wing similar to Yue's. His left wing however, turned black as it grew the size of the membrane and the bone claws. With his wings transformed, Helios roared loud and then said,"Absolute power, the brightest light and the grimmest darkness!"

"Hm..so you're feeding on The Light and The Dark together. I'm glad that the 'feedback' effect doesn't destroy you" said Yue.

"I am the embodiment of balance, where light and dark can coexist within an entity. Let me show you just how powerless you are in front of my superior might!" yelled Helios as he soared high and opened its mouth wide. White and black particles started to gather in front of his mouth, forming a sphere. Yue sensed something very dangerous coming from that condensed sphere, he sweated and observed it carefully to counteract. "No, I must not let him finish!" thought Yue as he threw icicles shards toward Helios. Some of them hit Helios' neck and head that it threw him out of focus. The condensed sphere started to ripple as the particles are separated again. Helios didn't have time to recollect himself, thus he roared and shot the imperfect sphere toward Yue as accurate as possible. The sphere went past Yue's shoulder at a very fast speed, barely scratching him and heading straight to the woody ground. It exploded in a bright white light before it subsided and left nothing in their wake. Yue looked at the 'erased' ground with his eyes wide and mouth clasped.

"What is...this power?!" stuttered Yue.

"Looks like you were lucky. Next time I won't miss" said Helios.

"More the reason to not let you live!" yelled Yue as he charged toward Helios.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ruby spotted Thyme running in the woods from the sky. She approached him and shot a ray of light to stop his advances. Thyme looked at Ruby as she slowly descended.

"You can run, but you can't hide. Now, I'll drag you back to Yue so that he can finish his things and I can go home!" said Ruby while throwing a magical thread to bind Thyme. He fell to the ground struggling to break free as Ruby walked toward him.

"Hm..hey wait a minute" said Ruby as she carefully examined Thyme's face,"This is..this isn't him!"

Ruby looked around searching for something, and eventually found what she was looking for. A book was laying open on the ground, she touched it and it transformed into a card labelled 'The Create'.

"Oh no, Yue's not gonna like this. But oh well, I did my best...and at least the boy cannot use this card anymore" said Ruby as she constantly flipped the card.

The real Thyme, noticed that his trap has sprung as he sprinted out of the woods, heading back to the city. He sensed a massive Clow Card presence from the city which he thought could be where Yuanzi fled to.

"Please hold the line, Helios. Forgive me, Create. This is getting very complicated, I need to make haste myself" mumbled Thyme as he ran. However as he strides through the city, the images from his dream came back. He started to see the buildings similar to his dream, it was so clear that he almost thought he was still dreaming. He looked up and saw the big moon, over the tall tower in front of him. He stopped for a moment, gazing at the scene as it resembled the visions in his dream.

"...This is..the moment in my dreams. But this shouldn't happen yet, the fourth prophecy hasn't been fulfilled yet. Which one is correct?" he thought,"and also..the guy in the dream…"

"Enjoying the scene, are we?" said a voice suddenly came from Thyme's back.

Thyme got alerted and immediately got into his fighting stance while looking back. It was Kaho's voice. She stood there along with a very tall man with short black hair, holding Kaho's hand.

"I...uh…" stuttered Thyme while glancing at the man, hesitating to talk to Kaho.

"Somehow this boy got that brat's look. No wonder you're so interested in him, don't make me jealous though" said the guy in a teasing tone.

"Don't scare him, Touya-kun! He's in a middle of a test, isn't that right?" said Kaho as she smiled at Thyme.

"That's...ummm…"

"Oh don't worry about him. He knows it too. In fact, he insisted that he wants to see you in person" continued Kaho.

"Well..fine then. Let me be blunt, are you the one behind this mess?" asked Thyme.

"You've got the same nerve too" said Touya as he looked at Thyme with a flat expression.

"Shush!" silenced Kaho as she stuck her finger in front of Touya's lips. Then she turned to Thyme and said,"I'm just a watcher, this time I won't interfere..no..it's more like I can't interfere. The trial must be completed by you without any help or interference"

"But you brought that Yue here! Helios didn't even say anything about a trial"

"Oh really? He really did come here? That's troubling, after I told him to stay"

"Yeah sure whatever"

"No, it's true! After you called me, my husband sensed a familiar presence, then told me to quickly meet you"

"Stop blaming her, brat. I sensed Yukito's presence, after all he and I are connected. There's also another disturbing presence" interrupted Touya.

Thyme got alerted as soon as he realised that Touya possessed magical abilities too. He couldn't sense it because it was so faint and small, almost as if there was only a bit left out of a massive pool.

"I met her, the girl with butterfly wings" said Thyme. Touya's expression turned annoyed as he heard that.

"Ruby Moon? Now that explains why Yue insists on coming here" replied Kaho.

"Is it because of Grandmaster Eriol?" asked Thyme.

Kaho just nodded and smiled. "Anyway, this is most unexpected. If Yue wants to impose his Final Judgment on you, then all my work here was for nothing" continued Kaho.

"I thought your work was to make my life harder.." blurted Thyme.

"Actually, I have assigned a invigilator as a guardian substitute for your Final Judgment. He might be nearby as we speak now"

"Oh man, gimme a break here! Even my own guardian doesn't feel like giving me a judgment, why do all the people dumping all of these on me?!" ranted Thyme.

"Did he really say that? Goodness..that is the only proof that your Clow Book is real. If you don't pass the judgment, the cards will go berserk again. And his calamity will hit right on your head" explained Kaho as she panicked.

"I wouldn't mind trying if I had a full deck though…" replied Thyme while showing his only four cards left.

"...My my..The condition of commencing Final Judgment is just the sealing of all cards. If you lost the cards after you sealed them, the judgment will still go on. I apologise in advance then"

"What for?"

"For troubling you further, my appointed invigilator should be here very soon" said Kaho.

Thyme sighed,"This is a joke…..I don't have time for this. The cards' presence are fading, I better go!"

"Are you looking for the girl holding your Clow Cards? She went into that tower building" pointed Kaho.

Thyme quickly dashed after bidding farewell to both heading straight for the tower building.

"You didn't tell him everything" said Touya to Kaho.

"There's no need for him to know yet. If he asks more questions, even I don't know the answers. That's why we're here to investigate, right darling?" replied Kaho while smiling.

"You're scary"

"Not at all" she smiled again.

Thyme sensed the cards' presence right above him as he stood in front of the building. He looked for the quickest way to climb, then entered the east side entrance of the tower. He kept reciting in his head,"Let me get my cards first before the guardian catches up to me!"

As Thyme reached the source of the presence, he looked inside the massive dark hall with moonlight through the windows as the only source of light. He approached the stage as he drew closer to the presence. His sight began to blur and he felt sleepy, but the presence got stronger. "What's…..this? I haven't exhausted myself yet and my head's already spinning" he thought.

Thyme woke up to see himself sleeping in the hall. The night was over and the sun was already shining bright outside. He looked outside through the windows then brushed his eyes. "I..impossible.."

The presence was already gone. Thyme ruffled every of his pocket but couldn't find both his brooch or the remaining cards. He wondered what happened and decided to finish his climb to the top of the tower. There he stood on top of the building, a scene he was very familiar with, the scene from his dream, except it was missing the giant moon. He looked everywhere but there was nothing in sight. He closed his eyes to concentrate his sense but couldn't find any presence. In the end, he walked back down and went home using a cab.

Thyme couldn't find both Helios or his Clow Book. Not even a trace of it left behind. His phone rang and he looked at the caller ID which read 'Studio'.

"Hi boss..what's up?"

"Thymey..how are you doing? I got a new client project for you, come see me in the studio when you work" said Teo.

"Here we go again..I thought we made an agreement to the Thymey business? Anyway, I'll see you on Monday for the project thing"

"What agreement are you talking about? Are you still sleeping Thymey?"

"You told me to run an errand in the middle of a night! You also agreed to give me bonus!"

"Huh? What? Thymey, wake up, you're still dreaming!"

"Dream? Boss, you're confusing me now..you're the one who caused a racket for me and Yuanzi last night"

"Who's that? Hey...were you drunk last night?"

"Huh?! It's Yuanzi! Li Yuanzi! You ordered her to grab your mobile and documents at midnight"

Teo paused for a moment, then said,"Thymey, I have my mobile right here and there was no meeting last night. And this imaginary friend of yours, don't let it affect your reality, better put it down on your drawings, alright?" then Teo hung up.

"?" Thyme couldn't help but notice something was off. He thought,"What's wrong with this world?! People are acting strange!". To quickly confirm his sanity, Thyme called his university friends to ask about the Li sisters. Nobody seems to ever know the twin sisters, almost as if they didn't exist.

"All this time….did I just wake up from a nightmare? Or did I just fall into a dream?! Is this the work of The Dream card? Wait a minute….what...is..The Dream...card? It suddenly pops out in my head, but I don't even know what that is"

His phone rang again, this time an email notification came. Thyme opened it and it was the university result for the semester. He got perfect marks for almost all of them. He smiled as he tried to forget all the stresses in his head. "Maybe I am deluding..just need a fresh air outside"

Thyme decided to go to his university looking for some friends to catch up and waited for a class. He noticed that this was the festival day. He looked inside the booths with his friends, having fun and chatting. He forgot all the things in his head and returned to his happy life. As they were laughing, a loud bell rang right next to Thyme's ear. "Aaarrgh!"

"Hey, watch it!" yelled him.

A booth girl was selling ice cream, she was using the bell to attract customers. "We have a big sale for selected flavours!" said the girl.

"I'm really full right now, maybe I'll come back later" replied Thyme.

"No you can't!" she shouted while ringing the bell. Thyme's ears hurt and felt pain in his head almost as if the noise penetrated his brain.

"STOP IT!" yelled Thyme scaring the girl.

"I-I'm sorry..I didn't mean to.."

"That's alright, just get that bell away from me!"

The girl was confused as to why Thyme seemed to suffer just by hearing the bell. She stopped the bell and Thyme's headache disappeared. Thyme was bathed in sweat as he panted after the pain subsided.

"Please don't get mad at me..I'll give you a free one ice cream treat as an apology" said the girl.

"No, it's okay.." replied Thyme. He tried to figure out what was happening, inside his head, like something was going to crack if the bell goes on. Then he noticed something just entered his thought. It was a tall man's figure, wearing a monocle, straight long black hair. The image was vivid but vanished soon after. "W-Who...was that?!" he said.

"Are you okay?" asked the girl as she saw Thyme's pale face. She leaned closer and accidentally bumped the bell. It rang again and followed by Thyme's death wail.

This time there was another image. A dark blue plush toy, and then shifted into a giant wyvern. Then all went black, showing a dark blue book. He saw something else, a brooch with winged decoration. He suddenly recalled the strange incident with his boss before. He resisted the pain, closed his eyes and recited in his head.

"One key, one book, a guardian of light and dark. One creator, one calamity, one answer…"

"Two sisters, two moon guardians, two sides of realm. Two paths, three ways, but only one destiny…"

Thyme took the girl's hand, telling her to ring the bell as loud as she could right next to Thyme's ear,"Please, I need to get out from here!"

The girl looked confused at first but eventually helped him. The sound made him knelt and rolling on the ground in pain as his mind was broken. Eventually his vision blurred and he couldn't breathe, all he could feel was nothingness.

"..."

Thyme opened his eyes again, and this time he was back inside the moonlit hall. In front of him, stood a mosaic that distorted the space. "I see, The Illusion, huh? Showing the images of exactly what I wanted to see?" said Thyme.

"That Yuanzi must've summoned it to stall me, or trap me inside forever. As your master, I command you to return!" continued Thyme.

The Illusion returned to its card form even without the command from the sealing key, then flew into Thyme's hand as he put it inside his pocket. Then he heard the same bell sound as from the hallucination. He tracked the noise source and headed up to the roof of the tower building. He was sure that it was Kaho's bells noise.

Thyme reached the rooftop where he can see the moon up close. There was another tower building on the other side facing the moon. Suddenly the bell stopped, and after a moment Thyme sensed something was heading for his head from above. He quickly looked up to see a very fast fireball rained on him. "Oh, shit!"

He dodged it as fast as he could, but the explosion blew him away and hit the wall. He stood up quickly and looked for the attacker. Eventually he found a silhouette in front of the moon, a guy he saw from the dream. Now all the missing images from the dream are clear. The strong breeze sounded the bell that he held in his left hand.

"I was waiting for the fire.. Now all the prophecies has been fulfilled. Finale time" said Thyme.

"Let's wrap this up quickly, shall we?" said the man in silhouette as he stopped the bell chakram. The moonlight lifted the shadow and revealed the man's figure. He wore a robe with a yin yang symbol, a long sword at his back. He had a medium long black hair, sharp looking eyes rivaling Thyme's.

"I suppose I should thank you for saving me from the Illusion, huh?" said Thyme in a provoking tone.

"I got tired of waiting, that's all. Now, if we're ready.." he replied while unsheathing his sword.

"H-Hold on! Who are you? Why are you suddenly attacking me?!"

"Haven't Miss Mizuki told you? No matter, I am your Final Judgment invigilator, Li Shenlong"

Thyme sighed,"No...not another Li..I've had enough trouble with two already, three will just complete my misery"

"Prepare yourself...to be eliminated!" declared Shenlong while leaping from his platform.

"Whoa whoa I said hold on!" yelled Thyme as he leaped backward keeping distance with Shenlong.

"Don't think you can talk me over to pass the Final Judgment!"

"No-no-no I'm looking for your relative, Li Yuanzi. She took my cards, I need them back..otherwise…gyaaaah!"

Shenlong swung his sword at fast speed against Thyme that he got startled. Thyme stumbled while Shenlong pointed his sword right in front of Thyme's nose. Shenlong said,"So..in the end..she took them. Very well, I shall clean up their mess" Shenlong raised his sword high preparing for a finishing blow,"It's over already..you failed"

Thyme failed to negotiate with Shenlong as he couldn't fight with full strength with just 5 cards. "RELEASE, The Light!"

A blinding light covered both of them, but Shenlong used the bell chakram to immediately dispel it. "Fancy tricks!" he said.

Thyme appeared from the light again as magic circle appeared below him and a card already floating in the air waiting to be summoned. "Stubborn bastard, here I thought we can settle with diplomacy. Tch...Sword!"

"Fight like a man!" shouted Shenlong as he launched himself for another assault.

With the newly summoned sword, Thyme quickly parried Shenlong's attack. Shenlong pressed his strength to the sword to push Thyme down. Thyme resisted and poured all his strength to repel Shenlong. However, Shenlong was more powerful and physically stronger that he overwhelmed Thyme in a single push.

"Nggrh…!"

"Will you admit your defeat?" asked Shenlong while keeping the pressure.

"Keep dreaming! Hyaaah!" shouted Thyme as he spun the sword and his body around to divert the force.

Shenlong didn't waste a moment to jump in for another attack. This time Thyme dodged it and launched himself a quick lunge. Shenlong parried it as quick as his reflex. An intense sword duel made series of clashing sound between the two in very fast motions.

They were both on par with sword techniques but Shenlong was superior in strength, making Thyme had to rely more on his speed advantage. While Shenlong was going all in for his attacks, Thyme stayed in defensive parrying stance and rarely went in for an attack as if he was hesitant.

Finally, Shenlong had Thyme cornered at the edge of the building. Thyme looked at the missing platform behind him as his eyes couldn't even see the ground from up there. "Shit!"

Thyme's left hand tried to reach his card holster to look for some strategies, but Shenlong noticed and swung his sword heavily. Thyme sidestepped and rolled to the side to reposition himself so that he didn't stand on a corner anymore. Without a blink Shenlong went in again for a flurry of slashes that forced Thyme to use both hands to parry them.

Thyme thought he had a chance but Shenlong read every subtle movement he made that he couldn't use his cards. He expected as much from someone who was trained to counter a cardcaptor. However, Thyme didn't expect Shenlong to fully committing attacks with just a sword, thus making him too careful in anticipating his movement.

Recalling Thyme's experience fighting a Li clan member, they always had magic to back their attacks, but he hadn't seen any of Shenlong's magic. He got suspicious that Shenlong's magic might be a finishing blow or a powerful sudden blast. Thus, Thyme insisted on keeping distance and not exposing himself off guard. Shenlong continued his relentless attacks on Thyme while trying to push him into a corner again. Thyme realised that eventually he will run out of stamina and lost, he couldn't stall and buy time to think, he had to act soon or else.

Thyme started lashing out some of his attacks, and as expected, got parried easily. "This is going nowhere" he thought. He gambled by taking two cards from his card holster, but couldn't escape Shenlong's eagle eyes as he immediately gave pressure. Realising that Thyme couldn't withstand Shenlong with only one arm holding the sword, he immediately threw the two cards to summon them,"Call upon the strength of The Light and The Dark! Unite under my hand!"

Thyme had no idea what he was going to summon by combining the cards that he never tried before, but he decided to finish his chant,"Dual-cast! Go!"

The two cards didn't fuse, but created an explosion instead that blew Thyme and Shenlong away. Thyme fell to the floor and Shenlong somersaulted to regain his balance and stood back. "W-What just happened?!" said Thyme.

"Rebound effect, hah! Are you experimenting on me? Good luck with that!" replied Shenlong as he went inside the smoke to attack Thyme again.

"Rebound effect? Does that mean they can't be dual-casted?! Shit! He's coming!"

Thyme readied his sword quickly and braced for the clash. This time Thyme was running out of options as he tried everything in his arsenal but there was clearly no way to win against Shenlong by dueling him. "Well, at least he's a human. His punishment won't be that harsh even if I lose" he thought.

Thyme threw his sword at Shenlong while running away by jumping to another building. By leaving the sword, he also abandoned his scepter which prevents him from using any Clow Card. His desperate attempt, however was still not enough to even scratch Shenlong as he quickly dodged it and chased Thyme. "Activate now, Illusion!" yelled Thyme.

It turned out that he stuck The Illusion card to his sword before throwing it and chanted beforehand, but left the last phrase of the chant and casted it after the sword went through Shenlong. There was something that Thyme figured out after the rebound effect occurred. Shenlong could've used a magical charm that Miaozi and Yuanzi used to propel himself but he jumped back instead. Thyme was close in figuring out Shenlong's only weakness. Although Shenlong was superior in both power and technique of martial arts rather than the twin sisters, Thyme guessed there is a possibility that Shenlong couldn't use magic!

Thyme tried to prove that by using Illusion to trap Shenlong. As expected, Shenlong panicked as he stopped his advance and using a defensive stance. Thyme let out a tiny grin as he successfully landed his first offense. "Hahaha! I got you now! Never thought you're vulnerable to magic"

Thyme analysed his fight with Shenlong ever since they started. Shenlong's behaviours were pointing to the fact that he didn't want Thyme to ever cast magic as he constantly pressed whenever Thyme was reaching his card holster. Also not to mention there were so many chances that Shenlong could've used magic to his leverage, as would the twin sister do, but he didn't, or rather couldn't.

As much as it looked strange that a clan that protects magic would be weak to the magic itself, Thyme couldn't have figured it out if he wasn't desperate. However judging at the situation, the number of cards weren't favouring Thyme.

"I don't have much choice..looks like I'll have to make due with swords duel for now" said Thyme while preparing a sword stance.

Shenlong grinned, then he stretched his right leg to the front while lifting his sword in parallel to his legs positions. The stance looked like he was ready to lunge and stab anytime.

Thyme held his sword with both hands, pointing the blade right at Shenlong. Shenlong immediately dashed as soon as Thyme launched himself. A loud sword clashing sound was heard as the turbulence of two lightning fast swordsmen collided. However with Shenlong's superior strength and speed, Thyme was thrown back and smashed his back against the wall.

"Urrrk..bastard!" screamed Thyme while wiping the blood that came out from his mouth dripping to his chin.

"Good..fight like a man.. and fall honourably. Let's go!" said Shenlong as he dashed in for a finishing move.

Shenlong pushed Thyme to a corner again and managed to deliver a wide cut to his left arm. The cut went through his clothes as Thyme bled afterwards and held his injured arm with the other trying to stop the bleeding.

"There's no need for more bloodshed. Yield now!" said Shenlong as he pointed the tip of his sword in front of Thyme's face who slumped down against a wall.

Thyme looked around to locate his cards that have been used before. He saw The Dark was very near to his position. Then Thyme kicked the sword pointing at him and jumped against the wall and kicked it away to flip above Shenlong. Shenlong stabbed upward in panic to stop Thyme but he parried it by spinning his blade along with his body. After landing, Thyme quickly ran for the card, hooked it with his heel to lift it in the air as he turned around. "Dark, close the night's curtain!"

"No more of your shenanigans!" yelled Shenlong as he raised his bell chakram.

The Dark's power could only last a brief moment, but it bought enough time for Thyme to get away. "Tch, running away?!" grumbled Shenlong as he jumped down to chase.

"Persistent bastard! I thought the judgment is over when I fled. He's still chasing me after I admitted defeat? Isn't this against the rule?" said Thyme as he tried to lose Shenlong's trail.

Thyme strode the empty but brightly lit city streets, turning from alley to alley and jumping from one top of building to another. He kept looking back to calculate the distance between them, until someone blocked him as he turned into a corner.

"Shit!" yelled Thyme while swinging his sword against the shadow figure in front of him.

The shadow repelled his attack using a longsword, then a familiar voice came out as the shadow stepped in the light. "Careful where you swing that thing!" warned Miaozi.

"Y-You! How dare you even show your face in front of me now?!" blurted Thyme.

"Ssh..pipe down. Come with me!" replied Miaozi as she took Thyme's hand and dragged him away after throwing a charm paper and shouted,"Shin Kagerou Shourai! [Divine Shadow Haze Summoning]"

Veil of shadows were summoned as they enveloped Miaozi and Thyme within, making them invisible both in light and shadow along with their trails. Miaozi started running while taking Thyme with her. They reached an underground parking lot where Miaozi released the spell.

"What now? Are you leading me to a trap?!" asked Thyme.

"Ungrateful. I just saved you from that vengeful bimbo" said Miaozi.

"And why would you do that? You just helped an enemy! I don't trust you"

Miaozi shut Thyme up by putting her finger in front of his lips,"Be quiet and listen to me. Although we share the same objectives, that guy is not under Master Shaoran's direct command"

Thyme calmed himself as he cancelled his sword card and listened carefully,"Explain yourself"

"Good. Now we can talk" replied Miaozi as she sheathed her sword as well then continued,"Well, this is kinda our internal clan problems, but I think you should know at least who is your enemy and ally. Li Shenlong is currently The Chosen One from our Great Elder, aka Master Shaoran. He is to be the successor to our leader, but things happened and he goes rogue. His original task is to do what we have been doing this time to you, retrieving the fake Clow Cards"

"They are not fakes!"

"Yes, I'm not here to argue about that. You can fly to Hong Kong and debate that with Master Shaoran. Now..let's continue..My sister and I were assigned by Master Shaoran to retrieve the cards before he finds you. Because.."

"Because of what?!"

"He doesn't listen to our chain of command anymore. He won't listen to Master Shaoran. It seems that he knows something about your Clow Cards that we don't, and he's planning something with it"

"Hmm..interesting..so why is he here now?"

"I honestly don't know. I don't even have any clue on how did he find your location"

"Hmph..now I see. It's that Kaho, she's somehow related to this"

"Kaho Mizuki, huh? Somehow things got very convoluted now. With Yue and Ruby suddenly appeared, Shenlong and Kaho, sometimes I wonder what Master Shaoran and Mistress Sakura are doing. From the looks of it, they seem to act separately under different commands"

"Right..Yue and Ruby affirmed that they are under Grandmaster Eriol's order. You and your sister are under Li Shaoran's. As for the other two, I have no idea. Hmph..so what exactly that make Shenlong go rogue?"

"It's complicated..something to do with main family and branch family power. You see, the Li Clan consists of both main and branch family with main families leading on top. My sister and I belong to the main family's Protector sect. Li Shenlong, belongs to a small branch family. He was not meant to be part of the clan's authority due to his branch origin and lack of magical abilities. However, his physical ability is top notch, he bested even the head of Protector sect in a ceremonial duel. Eventually, the Council decided to train him in our traditional martial arts, under the tutelage of Li Meilin, Master Shaoran's ex-fiancee and a martial arts prodigy" explained Miaozi.

"I've heard of Meilin. She beat a Clow Card with just bare hands. So that explains his inhuman fighting ability..please continue"

"Meilin-shisho discovered a talented boy that reminded her of Master Shaoran when they were little. She trained him using every knowledge she has. In the end, Shenlong became an elite fighter, so strong that his ability is on par with the current Master Shaoran's martial arts. Master Shaoran took an interest in him, talked with him every now and then. Shenlong looked up to Master Shaoran due to Meilin-shisho's storytelling, then he asked if someday he could become the Great Elder, succeeding Master Shaoran"

"What's the problem in that? He has the ability, motivation, and the vision"

"Unfortunately, we don't operate like that. There's a rule that the branch family cannot lead over the main family. The Inner Council is also voicing disapproval as Shenlong doesn't possess any magical ability, thus is not blessed by the elder powers according to Li Clan's traditions. Regardless, Master Shaoran took him in and appointed him to be his successor, the Chosen One"

"...I don't see anything wrong yet..sorry, please proceed.."

"That's exactly one of the reasons. By ignoring the Council, The Great Elder decided something which provoked so many below him" sighed Miaozi,"Sometimes Master Shaoran can be so clumsy..despite his great leadership. Anyway, the now ambitious Shenlong got upset that Master Shaoran got insulted just because of him. Shenlong, being born a genius, could never accept the fact that he got held back only due to rules and traditions. One day, he pleaded to the Head Council to teach him magic, so he could satisfy the requirements"

"Looks like your Council is determined to not let him ascend"

"Yes..and that's because of his blood origin. Eventually, Shenlong got denied so many times and ended up being bullied even within his own clan. He detested the traditions, rules, and the hierarchy. He detested his own blood, his weakness of magic, and his powerlessness to do anything to change them. That was the day he left the clan and banished from the circle forever"

"Mm..and he met Kaho along the way who helped him to get here. What is she thinking, sending a vengeful fighting machine to someone who has no connection at all?!"

"It's the cards, Thyme. He wants the cards. It's the only possible method of him obtaining magic outside of Li's repertoire"

"But you said before that he has no magical affinity at all…"

"Well look at yourself! Did you have any before?" replied Miaozi.

Thyme paused for a moment,"...I guess you have a point there. But then again, why targetting me? Sakura Cards are probably closer to him rather than looking for some random guy"

"I have no more information on him. My guess is that he doesn't want to hurt Mistress Sakura because he looked up to her. Apparently he got a hold of our information network and using it to his advantage. More than that, you have to ask the person himself"

"I see..then this is no longer a valid Final Judgment. It's a war! And the worst of it, somehow I am in the center of it..wait a minute! What about your previous claims that you wanted to erase Helios and my Clow Cards?"

"I can't answer, it's a direct order from superior. But what Yuanzi did, was not in our plan"

"Oh right, speaking of which, where is she? I need the cards right now!"

"Look..forget all our conflicts in the past. Yuanzi is missing right now, along with your cards! If you want the cards so badly, then work with me to find her" said Miaozi in a serious tone.

"Then what? Snatch them away again?!" yelled Thyme.

"I've seen you fought up there for a while. Do you really think I stand a chance against the current you? One of those delta-cast is enough to bring me down. Wake up! You don't have enough cards to do anything, and your companion is fighting Yue right now! This isn't time to be hesitating, lots of people are depending on you"

"...I-I just…" said Thyme trembling.

"If you have questions, buy a ticket to Hong Kong after this. For now, we need to ward off Shenlong!" said Miaozi as she slapped Thyme once.

"U-uh...okay.." replied Thyme as he changed his expression,"What's your strategy?"

"As long as he is carrying that bell, your magic is useless. We need to fight him directly. He doesn't know that I'm here yet, we use that to our advantage"

"A sound plan, alright I'll lure him in!" said Thyme as he dashed outside the parking lot and reveal his presence by kicking parked cars that the alarms rang. Not long after, Shenlong jumped on him from the top of a building in a ready to slash motion. Thyme saw the looming shadow from above and quickly summoned his sword to parry the attack. Shenlong leaped backward using the momentum and stood in front of Thyme.

"Shenlong, you won't get anything by robbing my cards! Your enemy is not me!" said Thyme trying to negotiate.

"Hmph..so you knew. Shut your mouth, you don't know anything! I'm your Final Judgment and your worst nightmare, that's all you need to know" replied Shenlong as he lunged forward.

"Heh..just as I thought..Bring it, game on!" yelled Thyme as he turned around and ran back to the underground parking lot.

"Chickening out again? Don't think you can run away from me twice!" replied Shenlong behind.

Thyme led Shenlong to the designated location where Miaozi was waiting to ambush. After setting up the positions, Thyme signaled Miaozi to do simultaneous assault from the front and the rear. "Hyaaaaaah!"

Shenlong quickly noticed the second voice coming from his back, then turned around to see the incoming ambush. Thyme saw the opportunity then lunged forward at full speed. As much as they thought the plan would work by lunging two swords from different directions simultaneously, the only image they saw was Shenlong parrying both attacks using both his sword and his chakram bell.

"Impossible!" blurted Thyme. Miaozi was just as surprised.

"Fools.." said Shenlong as he pushed both Thyme and Miaozi away.

"So you're the one feeding him the information. Main family, always getting in my way" continued Shenlong while staring intently at Miaozi.

"This is the first time we meet face-to-face, notorious exile Li Shenlong-senpai" replied Miaozi.

"Senpai? Heh..so you're also Meilin-shisho's apprentice. This party is just getting better!"

"Shenlong, your pursuit of vengeance is useless! Whatever you plan to do, it'll only cause misery" yelled Thyme breaking the glares between the two clansmen.

"Hmph..heh..hahaha I think there's no point in hiding it anymore. Yes I'm just a human, not an eligible personnel to perform Final Judgment. Look here Cardcaptor, I'm offering you a chance to work with me. I'm on a mission to liberate my clan from its binding chain of ignorance" said Shenlong as he offered his hand.

"...I know the story...What's the catch?" asked Thyme.

"Thyme! You can't be seriously…." interrupted Miaozi.

Shenlong gave a side glance upon Miaozi before smirking,"Heh..wise choice. You and I, I can sense we belong in the same category. Ambitious, true leaders, allies of justice! I only ask you to hand over the cards to me, I will put them to good use. I ask you, do you even have any goals to do with the cards anyway?"

"I..I-I don't know yet.."

"Exactly my point. I will use them for noble purpose..together we can build a better world!"

"What makes you think you can use these cards? After all, I know that you're weak against magic"

"Tsk..this Clow Book is not assigned to anyone by Clow. If you, a commoner, can use it, then it's natural that a Li could use it too"

"I see, but I'm currently bound to a contract by Helios the guardian. How do you plan to bypass this?"

"I'm not after the title of Cardcaptor. I just want the cards, you can finish whatever you do to collect the cards, I only put them to good use. Isn't it a beneficial deal?"

"Thyme..NO! Don't ever agree to him!" interrupted Miaozi desperately.

"Shut up, bitch! I almost managed to stop your other, but that wench summoned the card to trap me!"

"The Illusion, so that's how it got there...Yuanzi stole my cards because she wanted to protect me from him. She knows well that I can't win against him and he will only chase the card keeper. This isn't about Final Judgment, I need to get out of this mess and get back to Helios as soon as possible" thought Thyme as everything finally fell in piece.

"What about Yue? You claimed to be the invigilator, so you must know that I'm currently not able to do anything to your cause" continued Thyme.

"Him? I just used his title, nothing more. My only goal is to abolish the current Li Clan. After that, I won't bother you anymore. In fact, I will lend you my hand to deal with him and this woman"

"You'll help me fight Yue? But that's against the rules!"

"Rules don't mean anything if we kill him. Rules are made by the victor. We make our own rules once we win. And together, you and I, we can do it"

"This man's a maniac! He killed lots of our clansmen in cold blood. He has gone down to the path of carnage! Thyme, don't join him!" yelled Miaozi.

"The strong shall survive and the weak shall perish. Currently, the weak are hiding behind their so called rules and bureaucracy to control the strong. I simply cannot allow that"

"Survival of the fittest, huh? Makes sense..but...I have my own reasons too. Alright, let's team up!" said Thyme.

Miaozi gasped as her eyes couldn't believe what had happened in front of her. She got betrayed and left to die by the only person she could trust. Shenlong turned around as his face was full of confidence, now facing Miaozi.

"Let's not waste any time, partner. Charge!" yelled Thyme as he dashed toward Miaozi at full speed followed by Shenlong.

Miaozi couldn't handle both of them at the same time, so she decided to parry Shenlong's attack and let Thyme went in. Strangely, Thyme didn't do anything except running past her and jumped outside. Shenlong saw that Thyme fled the scene but concentrated on the opponent right in front of him first.

"He double-crossed me! I'll crush him after I crush you, wench!" shouted Shenlong as he pushed his sword toward Miaozi.

"Damn Thyme! What are you thinking pitting me against him one-on-one?!" grumbled Miaozi as she resisted as she could.

Thyme got out of the parking lot and headed back where Helios was. He thought,"I mustn't get anyone else involved in this mess. I have to settle the score with Yue even though my cards are not complete. I'm sorry, Miaozi, I know you can't possibly win against him, but just buy me some time to finish this once and for all!"

However, before Thyme could even get out of the city, Yue and Ruby were already floating high above buildings. Thyme saw them and wondered where Helios was, thus approached them on top of a building.

"He proved to be a decent warm up. Now, are you ready, human?" said Yue with his cold eyes.

"Where is Helios?!" asked Thyme frantically.

"Here!" replied Ruby as she brought out a spherical cage with runic markings around it. Helios was trapped inside the cage in his small form.

Thyme couldn't believe that even the strong giant wyvern he saw back then can be easily defeated by these two. "H-How?!"

"Yue doesn't feed on Clow's magic anymore, remember? He's feeding on Sakura-chan's brother's energy, basically saying. He's immune to Clow powers because Sakura-chan's magic provided him evolved power and affinity" explained Ruby.

"You talk too much, Ruby. It won't do anything even if you explain everything" replied Yue.

"Geez, calm down. I'm just being the arbiter here..let's get this over with before the night's over and the moon disappears" said Ruby.

"Just as I wanted. It's about time we settle the score" challenged Thyme.

"Don't interfere, Ruby. I advise you bring that piece of weakling to Clow already and have him erased" warned Yue.

"Fine fine, I won't get in the way.. well then, I'll be going first" replied Ruby as she carried the cage and flew away from the scene.

"Hey wait!"

"You want to chase her? Go ahead, if you can..over my body" said Yue coldly.

Thyme readied his sword and prepared his stance. He honestly couldn't think of any strategy due to the limited cards, "I won't hold back anymore, I'll fight with all I've got!"

"You will try"

"En garde!"


End file.
